Photos (1/27/14)

At Cape Bojeador Light House

Planking at Kapurupuruan

Yes, we are missing a flag.

At Hannah's beach resort

To Buguey... and Beyond! (1/27/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

Transfer week and this time I am involved! Yes I am being transferred! After 10 Months in the office, I will be leaving Laoag City and going to Buguey, Cagayan. I am going to be a Zone Leader for the Gonzaga Zone. It the the farthest zone from Laoag and the mission home and it has been a pattern that the long term office Elders end up there. My new companion is Elder D and I will be the only foreigner in the apartment. I am super excited. my Tagalog will get much better now. I am now in a smaller district, with only 8 missionaries. I have been in one district my entire mission up until now. It has just some how changed around me. Really weird, but hey, how many missionaries can say that about their mission? Elder S is taking over as finance and my replacement is Elder W, who is the batch before me.

This has been a hectic week getting ready to hand off all of the finance stuff to Elder S. We were able to teach a few lessons, including to the Anc family twice. The last time was to Sister Anc, R Anc and his girlfriend Ly. They told us that since we have started teaching them , missionaries from two other churches have also been trying to teach them. But, they told us that we are the only ones that they like to listen to. How amazing it is that the Lord can trust the restored gospel to 18-26 year old young men and women. Man it is so true! I love this work and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he is our Savior and that he has paid the price for our sins.

This is going to be brief since my time is a bit short. We have a meeting with President Barrientos in a few minutes. We just finished another office day with President up north and I will attach some pictures. I got to travel quite a bit this week, including to the North and South in the same day with Elder P. It was then that President told us that we were being transferred. The ironic thing is the apartment we were setting up and furnishing was his new apartment.  

Anywho, thank you all for your support and prayers. They have been a great help as I have been serving in the office of the Philippines Laoag Mission. Now I will need them again as i help out Gonzaga zone. I have only heard good things about Buguey, like it is "Zion", and there is not much out there. Bukid and ocean here I come!

Love,

Elder Ryne Wood

Pictures (1.21.14)

Happy New Year from the Philippines Laoag Mission Office!

P-Day fun at Tacos del Norte

(1/20/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week has been a hectic one. As I write this I am trying to figure out what has happened since the last time that I wrote. With the weird Pday last week, my schedule is off. I got to do so much this week, including teaching to Al, the security guard and Sister Te, the mission home house help. They are both members and Sister Te asked Elder S and I to teach them. It is great to hear their stories about how they came to know the truth. I was part of Alex's conversion, but until we taught them I didn't know Sister Te. She used to hide from the missionaries, but eventually warmed up to them and was baptized. A few years later one of her sons served a mission, just like he wanted to when he was baptized. She is working on her family history and has run into a few obstacles, mostly just with the records of the Philippines which aren't the best. I have come to see on my mission how much the gospel of Jesus Christ really blesses all people. Lives change when the gospel is involved.

We got to teach to the Anc family on Sunday. We taught to six of them, as the others kind of wandered off as we arrived or shortly after. They see how important it is to have a prophet on the Earth and we introduced them to President Thomas S. Monson. I know that he is a true prophet and he holds all of the keys of the priesthood that were restored through Jospeh Smith. We gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to baptism. They accepted but not a set date. That is our goal for them this week. As we were shaking hands, I noticed that Jerry, the husband of one of the daughters of the family was reading from a random spot, but it turned out to not be so random. He had opened to the page where Nephi testifies that the Lord will reveal the truth to all those who ask, in all ages and times. I pray that he took understood and that the Spirit touched his heart as he read those words. I know they are true.

Short funny story from this week. On Thursday, us office Elders and the APs were playing basketball in the morning, like we usually do. But this time, we had a visitor. This guy wandered over to the main gate of the mission home compound and started watching us. He also started to commentate and do cheers. I don't know if he was drunk, crazy or what but it was hilarious! when President pulled up to the gate in the van, the guy jumped aside and saluted as he pulled in. He then guarded the gate until it shut completely to make sure no one followed President in. I wish one of us had had a camera on us to film it. I don't think I have ever seen anything as funny. 

I want to share a short thought with you all from my personal study this week. I am in the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi. I just read the prophesies of what was going to happen to the tribes of Israel and in the last days. After telling the people that the Lords anger is not turned away, Isaiah adds that His hand is outstretched still. There is always the chance for repentance. The Lord is always waiting for us to reach out and take his hand which is extended in mercy. That is why Jesus Christ came to Earth, why he completed the Atonement and has restored his Church in the last days. Even in times like these, his hand is outstretched still. I know that it is. I have taken it and he has raised me up like I never could on my own. If there is anyone who reads this email who has not yet accepted his hand, I plead with you to do so. Do all that it takes. It will be worth it and it is never to late. God loves us all and with him all things are possible to those who believe.

I know that this work is the work of salvation and the Lord is it's great author and director. The Church is true and God loves us. Remember that.

Love,

Elder Ryne Wood

I get to... (1/14/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has come and gone here in the Philippines Laoag Mission. We are currently in the middle of a mini-transfer. There was apparently some sort of issue with the exit visas of a bunch of the missionaries and so they are going home now instead of in 2 weeks like it says on their release dates. All of us in the field got a two week extension back when they changed the MTC times to adjust to the new arrival dates. So the 4 now leaving are on their original release dates, but the word from the travel office in Manila is that this is the only time that this is going to happen. The missionaries have been asking us every time they see us what their release date really is. It is nice to know that really we don't have to worry about that since it is all taken care of by the Church. The Church has made sure that it is easy for the missionaries to focus on the work. 

This week has been once again full of office work. It is so hard to strike a balance sometimes, but we work hard at it. I have come to realize the importance of having the right perspective on the trials and difficulties that we all face in life. A few transfers ago I was talking with some of the trainers about things that I had to do that day. Mostly it was office errands and traveling and it was looking like it was going to be an exhaustive day. It was one of those days that I felt I just had to get through so I could rest on the other side. As I started to list off all of the things that were on my To Do List, one of the missionaries stopped me and said "You don't have to. You get to." I realized how right they were. Everything that the Lord gives us is an opportunity to learn and grow. The difficult and the easy, but most especially the difficult. We are to learn while in this time of probation and how can we learn without the learning experiences. In the pre-Earth Life, I am sure that we all had the "I get to" outlook and not the "I have to" one. We got the chance to choose our Savior and prove our faith and loyalty to him the war in heaven. We get to come here to Earth and receive a mortal body. We get to have families and have the Church in our lives. And we get to help others to receive those blessings also. Through our love and efforts, others will one day get to return to our Heavenly Father. That is the whole purpose of the plan of salvation. No one had to, we had the choice and we made it in favor of the plan presented by our Heavenly Father. To get to is one of the greatest blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us.

So this week, I got to teach two lessons, both on the same subject though with very different outcomes. The topic was missionary work and in the second lesson, which was to Sister F, the Spirit testified to her of the importance of missionary work and the great blessings that it brings to the lives of all of God's children. She was willing and eager to take the new copies of the Book of Mormon and look for those around her whom the Lord is preparing to hear the message of the Gospel. She has already had some missionary experiences, and is excited for more. The first lesson was to a less active member and they were unfortunately less receptive to the message of helping all people hear and accept the gospel. We now know what direction we need to take our lessons with him now, so the time is not far when he will be willing and ready to help us.

I know that the Lord is with all of us. This is the final dispensation before the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ and now is the time for us to push the work forward. The results are astounding when the efforts of full time and member missionaries are combined. That is how the work was designed to work and it is the only way it can work. So I want to invite you all to pray for a missionary experience the night after you read this and then look the next day for when that experience comes and take it. You will be amazed at what happens and the Lord will bless some one through you. Mahal kita! Keep the faith!

Love,

Elder Ryne Wood

(1/7/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

So it is now 2014 and it came in with a BANG! Even more so than last year, since this year I was closer to the fireworks and actually knew what was coming. There were fireworks right in front of the apartment  and from the in-progress Mitsubishi dealership next to our apartment. There were also people driving in their tricys up and down the street shouting. I picked a bad title for the email last week, since I did almost see a person blow his foot off with a firework. It is sad to hear all of the stories for the madness that happens here. Gilbert, one of the recent converts in the ward who is the head nurse at the hospital in Laoag told us about some of the cases that he saw and even worked with in the emergency room. That is why we have to be in early and keep distance from the fireworks and stuff. They are still lighting them off in some places.

So we had a rocking week this week in inviting others to come unto Christ, It started on Monday night when we met Sister F's nephew, Ju. He is from Elder S's last area in Ilocos Sur and was just here on vacation. We started teaching him on Monday and we committed him to read from the Book of Mormon. He did, so on Wednesday we committed him to read from the Book of Mormon again and to pray and ask God if it is true. He did and he told us about his experience on Friday. We then invited him to be baptized, but didn't give him a date since he is from Cabugao. Saturday morning though, we got a text during personal study from Sister Fernandez. She said that Jun had told her that he wanted to be baptized that afternoon. I know right! As much as we would have loved to be missionaries like in the 1830s, the Area Presidency has set Standards for Baptism and it includes attending church 4 times and receiving all the lessons. We taught him again about the importance of preparing for baptism and committed him to pursue baptism in Cabugao. He has been well prepared by the Lord and we are praying that the Elders in Cabugao will be able to follow up with him and help him make that sacred covenant.

The other amazing miracle of this week happened Sunday night. We were walking through Buttong heading to teach the Sim's when Elder S called out to a man washing dishes on his balcony. We started talking with him and he invited us up. he and his wife live with a bunch of their children and their families. We started getting to know them all and one of the sons began to gather all of his siblings to meet us. We got to teach them and that is 3 new families. I know that the Lord is preparing people all over the world to receive the Restored gospel, and the easiest way for anyone to find them is to simply open their mouths. They do not know the truth only because they know not where to find it. That is why we have all been placed on earth at this time, to help others find the path that will lead to eternal life. We like Lehi have tasted of the fruit of the tree of life and we want others to partake of it as well. The gospel will bring the greatest blessing possible to those who receive it. Find them!

I have made a lot of resolutions for this New Year. how about all of you? During district meeting Elder P trained on setting and achieving goals. It motivated me to make some changes and to begin to set better goals and make better plans. I agree 100% with what Elder Ballard says about goals setting, that that is how we can achieve our potential in life. I realized that setting goals for personal improvement is a part of repentance. Repentance is a process of changing to become, so we must change and that takes effort and time. With goals and plans set and made with our eternal progression in mind, we can receive the help of a loving Heavenly Father in using the Atonement of Christ to become. I know that we are all God's children, created in the image of the Only Begotten Son and we are loved more than we realize. Remember that always and let that drive you to become better. I know that God is with us. Mahal kita!

Elder Ryne Wood