Yes. Very well. (2/17/13)

First off, can anyone name the movie he quoted for title of this email? Because I can't.  And it's bugging me -ABice

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been one crazy week. Since I am training now and Elder O had been transferred to Candon, it has been crazy. On Tuesday, we had trainers training with President Barrientos and the Assistants. It was great and much more personal since there are only three of us training in this weird transfer. Because of the changes in the MTC times, those missionaries coming next week will have been in the MTC for only six weeks, but our trainees were there for nine. On Thursday, I spent all day in Laoag. Mostly I was just waiting in the APs apartment until it was time for training. That was a rough day just because I knew I was not going to be able to teach anyone that day. But I got to receive training and begin work as a trainer. My companion is Elder Ly, from Utah. He's super energetic and excited to work. I am looking forward to this time as a trainer.

S is getting baptized on Saturday! His mom gave her permission and he had in interview last Saturday. It's all set now and we are looking forward to a good service with lots of the members there. It has been a bit different with teaching since I am now the trainer. It feels weird to always be looked to for what we are going to do next . I am looking forward to the time I get to spend preparing Elder L here in the field and look forward to the day when he gets to have a trainee of his own.

This email is a little late since we had a zone activity. We went to a beach near Laoag and cleaned it up and then played ultimate Frisbee and football. I found out that ultimate Frisbee is much different on a beach that is slanted with a group of people who have mostly never played it. It was still fun though. We tried building a sand castle of the Salt Lake Temple, but we spent most of the time trying to protect it from the water. It seem like a better idea in my head, but it was still fun.

Well I had better close this one up. Time is a bit short because of the activity, but it's alright. Things are going great in Bacarra and I still have quite a bit of time here. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts for me. Keep the faith! Mahal KIta!

Elder RWood

Only the begining of the adventure.... (2/10/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

As of now my training as a new missionary is over. This transfer is actually not an eight week transfer like everyone thought it was, it's only six. I just got the transfer list. Elder O is being transferred to Candon and I am going to be staying in Bacarra and training. I will get my new companion on Friday and until then my temporary companion is Elder R. He is one transfer ahead of me, so I met him in the MTC. He's an awesome missionary and I am excited to get to work with him, even if it is only for a few days until we get our trainees. It's crazy to think that I have reached the end of this phase of my mission. I know that there is still lots to come and I have tons to learn still. I am grateful to the Lord for providing me with the opportunities to learn that I have had so far and look forward to learning and growing more.

Transfers aren't the only changes that are going on here in the Laoag Philippines Mission. We just got a new schedule that President Barrientos has been directed to give to us. It gives us more time in companionship study to plan for the lessons we are going to teach. It actually gives us extra hours n Sunday too to work, which is great because there seems to be a lot of people who are only available on Sunday. There have also been some slight changes to some of the standards of the mission, though nothing to extreme. I am excited to have this opportunity to be obedient and improve through the inspired guidance of President Barrientos.

As for the work, it is going great in Bacarra. We have two baptisms scheduled for the 23 of February, both Iv and Sh. Sh was supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday, but his mom is not currently willing to give her consent. We have been praying and know that the Lord will provide the way for him to be baptized. One of his cousins is on the stake high counsel and said he is going to talk with his aunt about it. We had to postpone P's baptism for a few weeks, since he is still struggling with the word of wisdom. He has gone for a while without smoking and we fasted with him on Sunday. I know that the Lord can help him overcome this obstacle.

On Saturday, Elder O and I went out to Libtong, a barangay where we actually have a bunch of investigators. We taught three of them, and one specifically stood out to me. V, whose wife died last October of cancer. When we first met him we taught him about the plan of salvation and he was really interested. This time we taught about the Restoration through Joseph Smith and talked about having a living prophet. I showed him the picture of the general authorities from a conference magazine and he looked at it very intently. It was a great opportunity to testify of God's love for us as manifest in having a living Prophet. He kept the picture and treated it very carefully and respectfully. He has been very prepared to accept the message of the Gospel and I can't wait to see him receive the saving ordinances and have the work done for his wife.

Well, as Elder O's last request we got to do shopping here in Laoag so I've got to run. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Remember that we are all part of this the Lord's work. Mahal Kita!

Elder Ryne Warren Wood

Pictures!! 2/3/13

Bridge to  member's house

Why did I stop and pose?

Philippines Cobra (dead)

Me, M, her family and the baptism witnesses

Me and M

Me an M's sibblings

Remeber Elder Pakers "20 Mark Note" talk? (2/3/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

The pictures are currently being attached to the email. I guess I'll just do pictures when we get to be here in Laoag once a month for email. It really is nice to be able to come in to Laoag once a month for shopping and everything. It's the one chance to get some stuff that isn't in Bacarra, like Jiff peanut butter and milk. And with the new Pday schedule that President Barrientos is implementing, we have even more time on Pday, since we do laundry before studies starting at 8. There has also been talk from President that either this coming transfer or the next Bacarra is going to have four missionaries and the area will be split. That will be really nice. Bacarra is massive and it's almost too much for two missionaries, Elder O and I have done well, but the work will move much faster when there are twice the missionaries.

On Thursday we had exchanges. Since Elder O is District leader, I got to be with one of our zone leaders, Elder Od. He's been in the field about twice as long as i have and he is an awesome missionary. It was such an awesome day. We found a bunch of new investigators, including the B captain of Libtong, kind of like the mayor of a section of Bacarra, and A. A was just sitting outside his house, so we went and talked to him and shared about the restoration,. He doesn't have a specific religion, but he has tried out many. We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon about the apostasy and after reading it he told us that the Book of Mormon was true. He had only read two verses and he was already saying it was true! We are going back out to him this Saturday and we are excited. 

Sh has a baptism coming up on the 16th and he is really very ready. He is participating much more in the lessons that ever before. On Thursday we taught him the end of the plan of salvation and about faith and repentance. It was lots for him to take in, but he followed all that we told him and we could tell that he understood. Much different than when we first taught him and it took him an hour to agree to listen to us.

Part of our Zone and District goals have to do with finding new investigators and we have found a ton mostly through our own efforts, though we have gotten quite a few referrals to. One referral came from M's mom. She referred to us a friend who got excited when she saw the pictures from M's baptism. She said that she wants to learn more about our church since the way we baptize is the way that Christ was baptized. I have seen great examples of how the Lord is preparing people to accept the gospel as I have been searching for those of God's children who are prepared.


I want to share with you an experience that I had on Saturday. I don;t know if you have ever read President Packers talk 20 Mark note, but this experience that I had is similar. On Saturday we were trying to get a fellow-shipper and finally managed to contact Bro. Re, the uncle of one of our investigators and he came to work with us. As we were walking to met him. I decided to stop by the apartment and get a 500 pesos note that i had there so that we could get some snack after we worked. I had thought about bringing it before I left, but I had decided not to. Now though we went back and got it. I thought we could use it at this little store not far from the apartment after we returned. We didnt use it right after we got back, but we did use it later in the night. We went to the little store and bought some ice cream. As the lady who owns it was getting me change, she commented on how good mt Tagalog was. I started talking to her and found out that she investigated the Church in the 90s, but didn't get baptized because she had some word of wisdom problems. From the sound of it the Elders who taught her and did the interview didn't handle the situation very well. She told us that she had some great memories of learning and of going to church. We talked with her and she said she would like to start the lessons again. We are going to go back to start teaching her sometime when her store isn't busy, which is basically whenever we have time.

I share this experience because I realized after that it was not my idea to go and get the 500 peso note. It was the Spirit that prompted me to go back and get that note and even use it at that store. Elder O told me that he had had had the same thought of going to that store to use is. I know that the Lord guided us to be able to find this lady who is prepared to accept the gospel. It is interesting that the Spirit works in so many different ways. I f you can, look for Pres. Packer's talk. It was a devotional talk at BYUI, so it should be on the internet. It is about a similar experience of Elder Bednar and Pres. Packer.

Well I hope that you are all doing well as this February begins. Thank you for your prayers and faith. Keep praying and looking for missionary experiences and the Lord will bless you with opportunities to help others. Mahal Kita! God Bless!


Elder R. Wood

I bought a boxen of doughnuts (1/27/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Sounds like there was a good baptismal service in Fallon this weekend. We had one here in Bacarra too, though the water was much deeper. It went up to my waist , which meant it went above M's waist by a good foot of so. Maybe we should have switched fonts for the services. I am trying to send some pictures, but the computer is refusing to attach files right now, so I'll have to see whether or not any pictures can make it to you today. The Baptismal service for M was great! The talks were mostly in Ilokano so I didn't understand a lot of what was said, but the Spirit there was strong  and that was the important part. I got to perform the baptism and it went without any problem. The problem came when I got out of the font and realized that my dry clothes were in the clerk's office down the hall and I was soaking wet from the waist down. Luckily our clerk walked by and was able to rescue me. So I was the last one to change and go back into the room for the closing remarks and hymn. It was a great service and she was confirmed on Sunday. Now we get to turn greater attention to our three baptisms scheduled for  February.

So you all remember P I'm sure. He has some to church for almost a month on his own and his baptism is scheduled for February 23. He has been having a really hard time quitting smoking though. We gave him a blessing to help him last week and we talked more with him about it on Thursday. He told us that he was going to stop now, in fact he promised us that he was going to. That is about all that he has do overcome to be ready for baptism. but it is a major hurdle for him. Luckily, we have an awesome fellow shipper for him, Bro. Ra and we hope that we can find out on Tuesday that he has not smoked since our last visit.

Over the past few weeks our zone and district has set new goals to meet the standards of excellence given to us by President Barrientos. One of these is getting more progressing investigators. Elder Oand I have been trying hard to get investigators to come to church as part of this goal. One of our investigators, Myl, has been learning since the first week we got here, but has not yet been to church and has just now began reading. We committed him Saturday to come, but he was still very hesitant to come. We also committed his boss's family to come to church. He was there when we did and he told us that if they went to church he would have to go too since he is their "bodyguard". So now we know what we need to do to get him to church and we can hopefully get all of them to attend soon.

Things are really picking up here and around the world. Time is flying by and despite the extension on this transfer it is already almost over. The Lord is hastening his work and we are all part of it. Keep on praying for the missionaries and to have your own missionary experiences. The Lord will bless us as we do all that he has asked us to. Thank you for all your love and support. Mahal Kita!

Elder R.Wood

We have a Hulk... (1/20/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow it sure has been a busy week. Being the companion of the district leader, I get to travel around to baptismal interviews. We've had a baptismal interview every week for the past two weeks and we have another one this Saturday. On top of that we had an interview for M on Saturday morning before going to do an interview for some of the Elders in our district. President Barrientos has set the standard of excellence in the mission for two convert baptisms a month, so we'll probably start to see even more interviews!

On Thursday we went out to Libtong, a barangay that is a ways away from anything. We have some investigators out there, but the two that we had scheduled to teach were unavailable. So we went finding. We had ZTM on Wednesday and had talked about finding, so we were excited to start using what we learned. We found a man sitting outside his house and we just started talking to him. He was wearing a black pin on his shirt, which is the symbol that someone in his family died recently. Elder O asked who and he said it was his wife, last October. He let us teach him about the plan of Salvation and the Spirit World. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and he wants us to come back and teach him more. He even referred his kids to us. We were lead to him by the Spirit and it was a great experience showing how the Lord is preparing people for us to teach everywhere.

P accepted a baptismal date on Thursday! He has come to Church on his own every week for the past 3 weeks now and he loves church so much. Luckily for us the Gospel Essentials teacher speaks Ilokano, which is what P speaks. He is working hard to live the Word of Wisdom and be ready for baptism. He has a smoking problem but since we taught Word of Wisdom he has gone from a pack a day to three cigarettes a day.It's not easy for him, but he wants it so much and he is willing to work had to do it. His date is for February 23, the Saturday before transfers.

We taught a man in Duripes on Friday and had a rather interesting experience. After teaching him the Restoration, he thought that Joseph Smith was an Old Testament prophet. We explained that we wasn't so he figured he was the 13th apostle of Jesus Christ. That took some clarification, but he understands now and in his prayer at the end of the lesson he asked God to help him understand us better when we came back again to teach him. It's amazing how many people are very willing to listen and seek God's help in knowing the truth of our message. Heavenly Father is preparing people everywhere to hear the Gospel. Help him by finding those that you know who have been prepared and introduce them to the Gospel. God will bless you and them. This is God's work and glory and he asks us all to participate in it. Thank you all for your prayers and faith for me and all of the missionaries around the world. Mahal Kita. Kita Kits sa October!

Elder R. Wood