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

Photos from Temple Square and Drop Off Day

Salt Lake Temple

Family at Temple Square

He's in the Lord's hands for the next two years

Good-bye hug from Grandma

Grandma and Grandpa

Goofy, excited smile

Mom and dad

Momma

Older sister

Dad

Off on his Best Two Years :)

First letter! (9/25/12)

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry about that email. I'm not sure what happened there. I must have hit a button or something that sent that. Since I'm still working on how best to do emails and I forgot the email that Dad told me to email to (sorry Dad), most likely not all of my letters will be like this.

 I hope that all is going well for everyone. Thank you all for the letters that I have received so far. If you don't get a letter back from me as soon as you would like I'm really sorry. There is so much to do here and it feels like there is so little time in which to do it. My P-Day is on Tuesday, so that is when I will be writing and sending most of my mail and emails.

 They really don't waste a second here at the MTC. From the time I walked away from the car with my escort and luggage my training had begun. I got my nametags, book and materials, dropped off my luggage and went to the first class. The teacher spoke only in Tagalog and no one in my district had any idea what the teacher was saying most of the time. There are nine elders in my district and guess what, we are all going to Laoag! President Smith, our branch president said that that is a rare occurrence and none of the other districts in our zone are like that. I am in a threesome companionship, which so far is much different that what the normal companionships seem like. My companions are Elder O and Elder B. Elder B is from Orange County  in Southern California and is 100% Navajo. He is really cool and super spiritual. Elder O is great too. He loves to share his testimony and always has a story or comment for everything. I love both of them. They have helped me grow a ton just in the week that I have been here. We have great Zone Leaders as well in Elder Bham (any relation to Uncle G?) and Elder H, who is from New Zealand. Or branch Presidency is great also, with President S, Brother H and Brother G. Brother H actually was missionary that helped open up areas of the Philippines. Brother G is no longer in our branch though. He and his wife just got their call to serve in the Alpine Germany Mission. I love all of my leaders and all that they do for me.

 Tagalog is tough, not going to lie. I've learned a lot since I've arrived, more than I had expected but I still have lots and lots to learn. Brother P who is our teacher is amazing and does a great job of helping us learn. He speaks only in tagalog unless there is something that is super important, when he switches to English. Most of the time I can get the basic gist of what he is saying. My Taglish is pretty good but I want my Tagalog to exceed my Taglish. It's mostly vocab and phrase memorizing right now. We haven't got to the grammar except for a quick over view. It is exactly the opposite of the way we structure in English.

This computer really hates me. We had a great experience at the end of our temple walk on Sunday. As we we're coming away from the temple parking lot a couple was walking up with their three year old daughter. When the girl saw the group of us, she ran up to us and looking at us with the biggest mile I've ever seen on a child said "Hi missionaries". We all said hi back and felt so good. It is truly amazing how she knew exactly who and what we were. That really made me realizes that the time is at hand when the Lord wants my heart mind, might and strength in serving him.

 I'm about out of time, so I hope that everything is going well for everyone. I hope to hear from you all in the future. Thank you for your prayers. I have felt the strength of your faith in the blessing the lord has poured out upon me. I know that this church is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Jesus Christ is my savior. This is his church and work. He loves each of us more than we know or comprehend. I love you all and hope for the best for all of you.

Love,

Elder Wood

And he is off!!

Elder RWood was dropped of at the Provo MTC today by his parent's and sister ABice. Its was quick and painless (mostly). The first tears came from ABice and mom quickly followed. But we know that he is in the Lord's hands now, doing His work and will be blessing the live of everyone he comes across the next two years!!
Some photos of the drop off will be posted tomorrow, so check back in. We should have his first letter posted in a week!!
Thank you for all your love and support!!