Why was he on the hood?!?!?! (8/25/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has come and gone and boy was it a crazy one. We did so much this week and so much happened that the week just flew by. And now it is P-Day again. 

It all started on Tuesday with a lockdown! It had been raining since Thursday, so the Area Presidency told all of the mission presidents to have all of the missionaries stay in doors due to flooding. Apparently a few missionaries got injured because of the flooding, but not here in the Laoag mission. We did office work and study all day so that we are now caught up from transfers. 

Wednesday and Thursday were spent moving apartments. We got 4 new apartments and we moved 6 companionships of sisters into 3 of them. On wednesday we started at 7 in the morning and ended about 9 30 in the evening. Then on Thursday we started at around 2 after district meeting and ended around 9 again. Whew those were a couple of long days. President and Sister Barrientos knew how tough it was, so they fed us lunch and dinner on Wednesday. 

On Saturday we traveled to Vigan to get the furnishings out of the apartment of the couple missionary that just went home. We discovered that the bed of the truck wasn't big enough for the stuff, so we were couldn't even take back half of the stuff. We also had a problem with the water heater, which turned out to not even be ours. We had lunch at 711 in Vigan. Yes they have them here and it was good and cheap. Like 2 liters of Mug Root Beer for 53 pisos. We then headed back up to cabugao and then off to home, we got in late again. 

Elder B and I had to go back to Cabugao yesterday to finish a few things and went to sacrament meeting there. The branch there is full of young people and families, which is something that I haven't seen in a while. WE got a shout out in sacrament meeting from the Cabugao Elders landlord. I found it very funny that the members were still staring at the white Elder despite having 3 white  Elders serving in the ward, including Elder Lynn.

Once again we had super low numbers again. We did have a great lesson with the S family last night. We talked about the pre-Earth life and discussed Abraham 3:21-25; 27-28. They are awesome but Nanay still has a obsacle for getting married and baptized that she is not yet willing to disclose. It is really bugging us. They have been investigating for over a year and Tatay is ready to be baptized and wants to get married so he can, but Nanay is sill stuck. Please pray for them. They understood the lesson well, and they remember alot since it is probably the third or fourth time that they have been taught it.

We have interviews with President this week and hopefully we can get interviewed this time. We also have the cooking activity as part of interviews again and we are all excited for it! Thanks for the prayers and the thoughts and emails. It really helps to hear from all of you and while I am not as good about replying as I should be i'm trying to get better. God bless you all! Mahal Kita!

Elder RWood

 

11 months (8/18/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

We just made it through another transfer week. It always feels so good to make it to the end of the busiest week of the transfer and look back and think "We have six weeks till we do it again". This Transfer was a bit more hectic since there was a group coming from Provo who had their flight canceled so they can in a day late. So instead of staying here for one night they stayed two. IT's always super fun to see the new missionaries arrive. And this time I actually knew one of them from before the mission, Elder O. 

From Thursday to Sunday it was raining. Non-stop. IT was crazy. Elder B and I traveled to Vigan on Saturday to look at new apartments and it was flooding all over Ilocos Sur. President Barrientos advised the missionaries that if there was flooding in our area to stay in the apartment. Luckily, not much flooding around Laoag City, so we were able to get in some teaching time. Not much, but it is better than none. 

On Thursday, I had quite a bit of study time while waiting to help out with the new missionaries. I decided to study Elder Oaks talk "The Challenge to Become". It was amazing! I have read it before, but this time I got so much more out of it. With the new standards of excellence and the call of exact obedience, I have been looking studying a lot about repentance, as it applies to missionary work. One thing I got last time I studied was how repentance is the process by which we change our selves to become what our Heavenly Father intends us to be. And then in reading Elder Oaks talk, that was driven home for me. That is the entire purpose we are here on Earth, to become what he is. We could have been taught everything he knows, but without a body and the chance to choose for our selves, none of that knowledge would be worth anything. This is the time for us to become as Him, and for us to do that he has given us a Savior, even Jesus Christ. This is the greatest showing of our Heavenly Father's love for us. With out Christ, we cannot  make it back to Heavenly Father. He is central to God's plan. He lives and loves us. He knows every sorrow, care and fallen moment because he atoned for all of them. I know this with all of my heart.

I hope all is going well for everyone in everything that is going on in their lives. Keep on relying on God for help and he will lead you. Keep on seeking his guidance and help his kingdom move forward. There is no greater work to do. Mahal Kita! Kita Kits!

Elder RWood

Let me guess. We're about to over a huge waterfall (8/11/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Transfer week is upon us once again. Where does the time go. It was only six weeks ago that I said that last time. And this time it is going to be even more fun! We are currently on lock down due to a signal 3 typhoon that is headed for the mission. The only reason I am sending this now is that I am in the office while Elder B does some office work President Barrientos needs him to do. If the typhoon carries into tomorrow

There are lots of changes happening in the mission and we are all excited! There is so many new missionaries coming that we are having to find places to put all of them. Especially with the increase in sisters. There are several new apartments opening and lots of missionaries moving around. The work of the Lord is moving forward faster and faster everyday and we are all part of the wave if we will except the call to serve in whatever way the Lord needs us.

We had ZTM this past Thursday and it was great. The new standards of excellence were introduced and we got new standards cards. Lots of eyebrows went up when the missionaries saw the new standards of excellence. It is really going to test our faith and make us work and it is going to bring results. And it is possible through exact obedience and faith. President Barrientos has a favorite saying that he has been using over the past several weeks. "When the work becomes harder our prayers become more sincere." It is very true. We pray harder for the Spirit to be poured out upon us and those we are helping. We pray more sincerely to lose ourselves in the work. We repent more sincerely so that we can become exactly obedient. That is one thing that our Zone Leaders talked bout that really hit me was the connection between exact obedience and repentance. Repentance really is central to all that we do as missionaries. We cry repentance so that others can know how to access the Atonement of Jesus Christ and be forgiven of their sins. We invite them to act so that they can feel that power and they apply what they learn.

We didn't get much teaching time this week unfortunately. We did try to teach O and S, but instead we ended up helping them move. They are still in our area though. I really do miss getting to teach, but the Lord has other tasks that he needs done also and he has asked some to sacrifice to accomplish those.

Time to close up. Lots still to do. Keep on smiling press forward. Mahal Kita!

Elder RWood

I think they're digging up Uruk-Hai in the backyard Elders... (8/5/13)

Dear Friends and Family,

Just as a brief explanation for the title, there is construction going on right behind our apartment, it looked a bit like Isengard at first, but then we realized they are just building the new Mitsubishi of Ilocos Norte right behind our apartment. Sana (hopefully) the service center is on the far side of the lot and not right next to the apartment. That would not make for a very quiet apartment and the highway out front makes it noisy as is.

It's getting to be that time again. Yes transfers are coming up. Yeah! We just had a mini transfer with 6 missionaries coming from Provo and Manila. Next week there is twenty three arriving. Next transfer there will be 31 incoming and with no outgoing, we will be at over 200 missionaries. That is an increase of 50 missionaries in 3 months. This work is moving along so amazingly and I am so glad to be a part of it. I hope you all are continuing to look for ways to help move the work along as well.

We were able to get some great lessons in this week. President Barrientos has raised the mission standard of excellence and I am excited to work harder to reach what the Lord expects of me. We were able to teach E 3 times this week and we have started teaching her about the Plan of Salvation, which she is understanding really fast. We invited her and her niece to attend church on Sunday, but they didn't come. It was really sad. When we visited them later, they told us that right as they were ready to leave to come, Ethel's brother-in-law came and took them to a different church. Sayang! That is our goal this week for them too, as well as with most of our investigators. With the new standard, we are going to extend all of our investigators baptismal dates. We want to have five straight weeks of baptisms! And with the Lords help we can do it.

One thing that was really touching this week was sacrament meeting. There was so many people there! Four of our less active families were there, and the sacrament hall was the fullest I've ever seen in our ward. There were some great testimonies too. Usually one of us missionaries has to break the silence and be first, but not this week. A variety of ward members got up to testify and it was so great. The Spirit was so strong. I love sacrament meeting so much. It seems to be too short now. 

I spent some time this week studying about the converting power of the Holy Ghost. I know that this is super important for all those who are learning about the gospel, whether for the first time or for the 100th time after baptism to know. I love in Alma 32: 31-32 when Alma talks about how we can recognize the Spirit. If it is good, or as Mormon puts in in Moroni 7 persuades us to do good and come unto God, it is of God. That is the test when all is said and done. If it brings us closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, it is of God. I know that Heavenly Father is constantly watching over us all and by the Holy Ghost guiding us and if we will listen to and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we will never have to worry about going astray.

Mahal Kita! Kita Kits!

Elder RWood

Office Elders in Pagudpud