Photos 6/9/13

Elder B, Al & Family

Sisters, Elder B, Elder RWood and Al's family

If you do a u-turn, I will catch you.(6/9/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Don't you hate that moment where you go to start writing something, but then don't know ho to start. Yeah I just had that. So it has been a week. I always feel like there is so much to write about yet when I get to the computer I don't know what to say. So I'll just start off with the best part, the Ilayat Family baptism! Alex Ilayat, the mission home security guard and his family were baptized in Batac on Saturday. That is about a 30 minute drive south of Laoag and President Barrientos let Elder B, Elder VB, Elder H and I drive down. Elder B was the baptizer so it was important. I attached a few pictures. It was great. There were 10 missionaries there due to exchanges that the Batac sisters were having, and there were lots of ward members. It all went smoothly until....

The font! It turns out that Al's 8 year old son is scared of water. So it took about 20 minutes to get him baptized. He would not let go of Al or the hand rail, but it all worked out. Elder B finally just picked him up and they both went under.  Al and his wife Cl have very strong testimonies which they shared after the ordinance. Then the Bishop of the Batac ward talked. I have met him before. He works as a Land Traffic Office Traffic Enforcer. Not some one you mess with. He talked about enduring to the end. He said " Now that you are in the path that leads to eternal life, go straight. Don't turn left, don't turn right and if you do a u-turn I will catch you." Everyone grinned at that, and we all got to see his teeth. His front top six teeth are all gold, silver or have some sort of shiny metal inlaid  in them. 

It is very true what he said though. There can be no turning once we are on the path that leads back to Heavenly Father. After we have entered the gate at baptism, it is a direct path back to out Heavenly Father if we will just continue to press forward. WE are given the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us on the path, as well as prophets, apostles, family, friends, teachers and so many more. Heavenly Father knows exactly what each of his children need to get back to him and he has and will give it to us. He loves us so much and if we remember that, and all that he has done for us, nothing matters more than getting home. 

The baptism was the biggest event of the week. We finished off Mission Leader Council, and had lots of errands to run later in the week. Always on the move as an office elder, though never in the way that we expect. I love being able to serve other missionaries though. I know that the Lord blesses all of his servants, no matter what their responsibilities are. I know that he will bless all of you as you do what he asks of you. I gotta run again. Mahal Kita! Mabuhay kayo lahat!

Elder RWood

Great Mexican food in Laoag. No joke. (6/2/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

I don't even know where to start with this week. It was one of those packed and crazy yet completely awesome and mind blowing weeks. Those are the best kind of weeks by far. 

We had interviews with President Barrientos on Thursday which took the whole day for us office Elders. Interviews were combined with District Meeting, which was great. Our district is huge with ten missionaries. It's because we have the four office Elders, the assistants and four sisters. Elder B is our district leader and he had a great training about using questions to help others and serve. That only went till about 11, and then it was personal study and errands with Sister Barrientos time. We were ate the chapel until 8, and interviews started at 8. We then went to Ineq's BBQ which is really good and then finally got home around 9:30. It was a long day, but I have had longer. Much, much longer.

Stake Conference was this weekend and Elder Teh of the First Quorum of the Seventy was presiding. He is the President of the Philippines area. We got to here from him, Sister Teh and President and Sister Barrientos, though we had a power outage in the middle of Sister Barrientos's talk, so we missed about half of it. We were in the overflow in the Relief Society room. It was such an awesome conference and we will get to see Elder Teh again in two weeks when he comes for the mission tour. 

There was one part of stake conference that really made the entire day perfect. When I was in Bacarra I told you all a bit about F, one of our investigators who did a 180 turn our first lesson and loves the Book of Mormon. We could never get him to come to Church since he always had work.  Last week Elder L was here to get his trainee and I asked him about Bacarra and he told me that F had attended church. This Sunday though, he was there are stake conference. And I could see the difference in his face. The change was amazing. He had this new light about him and he looked so happy. Although he is pure Ilokano, so it is a bit hard to communicate, when I shook his hand before I could see in his eyes the change that is being wrought in him by the Savior. And he stopped me again after conference to shake my hand again. It was such a powerful experience for me and a testimony builder of how this gospel changes lives and how each of person we talk to about the gospel has the seed of faith planted. We may not be able to see the fruit of our efforts in this life, but for sure we will see them in the next and we will have joy. In D&C 18, we are promised that if we bring one soul unto Christ great shall be our joy, but if we bring more souls our joy will be even greater. And I testify that every person that we share the gospel with is some one that we will help bring unto Christ. I have seen it for my self and I want everyone to feel that joy.

I love you all and I hope that all is going well for you. Keep up the faith and works and always remember that the Lord is with us. He has walked our path and now is is helping us walk it if we will but reach out for his help. Mahal Kita! Mabuhay kayo lahat!

Elder RWood

Doon sa kuwan sa malayo (5/26/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

The week of insanity has finally come to an end. I do enjoy being busy, the only problem is that in such an insane week we only were able to get one lesson in. It was with Al who is going to be baptized with his family on the 8th of June. Due to transfers I traveled, and traveled and traveled. I already talked about the trip to Magapit to drop off missionaries and luggage, and to Vigan. I then got to go to Santo Domingo before the new missionaries arrived and Vigan the next day. I actually went to Vigan twice in one day, once for missionaries and luggage, the other for furniture. We the office Elders have decided that we should get a larger truck or a trailer, but I think we will live with what we have. 

Kind of a funny story about the second trip to Vigan. I traveled with Elder Van Brunt and we stopped in Santo Domingo at the 7 11 for snacks. On the way in we got ambushed by a crazy white guy talking about everyone becoming Roman Catholic and burning like fried chicken at the Second Coming. We tried talking with him but he wouldn't let us say more than about 3 words at a time. We finally said we were in a hurry and we had to go, so he left. The security guard, who had come over by us after the guy did, told us that that guy is always causing problems there. We both shrugged it off. No matter what people say, there is nothing that can shake our testimonies if we are firm. I have had many people tell me we are wrong, that the Book of Mormon is evil, that Joseph Smith was a fraud, but they are merely words. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and was translated by the gift and power of God by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was called of God to restore the true Church of Jesus Christ in the last days. Nothing will ever change this knowledge and testimony.

In other news the names of new missionaries just keep on rolling in. We have got 10 more names for the  next several transfers and they just keep coming. I like getting to see the incoming missionaries and helping them get under way in the work of the Lord.  We also got to see the departing missionaries off at the airport. That was actually rather hard to do, especially since one of them was Elder Tucker, who has been AP since before I arrived. They had finished their time though and it is time for them to move on to the next phase of life. I don't need to worry about that though, it is still a ways off for me.

Thank you all for all of your prayers for all of the missionaries. We really do feel them and we need them. Keep doing all the Lord requires of you in whatever duty he has given you and I know that you will be blessed. Mahal kita. Mabuhay kayo lahat.

Elder RWood

The traveling Missionary... (5/20/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

What an insane week it has been and is going to continue to be. I've traveled more in the past week than I have in the rest of my entire mission except from traveling to the Philippines. With so many new missionaries coming in the next transfers there are many areas that are splitting to become four missionaries and the office Elders have the responsibilities to sign up new apartments, take new furniture and other stuff. So basically in the past week I have traveled to Vigan twice and to Magapit twice, all four trips with miscellaneous stop overs between to drop stuff off. Lots of time in a car and I'm not done yet. Tonight I head off to Vigan again and then to Santo Domingo tomorrow to move in a new apartment in preparation for new missionaries that will arrive there on Thursday. 

The Philippines Laoag mission is about to get swamped with missionaries. We have 25 coming tomorrow and 35 in the first week of July. We keep getting news of more incoming missionaries also. I just got news of one, from Elder Bham in the LA mission. His friend Elder O will be arriving in the Philippines Laoag Mission in August. Small world.  I'm super excited to see all of the new missionaries arrive. I'll be welcoming some as you read this tomorrow.

Al's baptism is on the 8th of June! It was going to be on the 1st, but his wife missed a few weeks of church and he wants to be baptized with her, so they just pushed it back a week. We haven't been able to get out to teach many people this past week and it will probably continue on through this week. We do have a few other baptismal dates coming up though. One is a newer one for our investigator Jy. She committed to be baptized on the 6 of July. Her grandma helped her come to that decision. Funny story about that one.  I miss being able to teach as much as I used to, but it's something that I am just going to have to get used to while I am in the Office.

I hope all is going well for all of you at this time. I really don't know who exactly reads these emails since they go on the blog, but if anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, interjections, or derogatory remarks, feel free to email me, just not the derogatory remarks. Keep looking for missionary opportunities and remember that the Lord is preparing the hearts and mind of people everywhere to here his Gospel. Remember as Nephi taught "This is the way and there is no other way" by which God's children can return to him. Mahal Kita!

Elder Ryne Warren Wood

When you are in the office, every week is insane (5/5/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

What an insane week it has been! I've discovered that when you are in the office every week is insane. There is always so much to do and never enough time to get it all done it feels like. There are only two weeks left until the transfer, and I have been in the office for a month. Crazy! 

So the reason that the office is so insane is that we think we know what we have to do everyday but then we actually get to the office and find out that there is much more to do. And we have extra stuff to do like errands and what not. On Tuesday we went to the Land Traffic Office and Elder VB and I got our drivers licenses. It took about four hours but it wasn't too bad. We also moved some of the sisters to their new apartment in the morning, so it was a long day. We had a nice breakfast with Elder and Sister Eddington, the couple missionary here in Laoag. 

Wednesday was another hectic day. We had a mini transfer, since there is much moving to be done in preparation for the split in July. It was also Elder O's birthday, so we surprised him in the morning in his apartment and then had breakfast, lunch and dinner with President and Sister Barrientos. I don't think I'll be losing much weight anytime soon. Saturday we traveled up to Aparri to look at some new apartments. That was an adventure. I got to spend the night in Lal-lo, which is a very large apartment with nice cold water.

Al is doing awesome. He and his family attended all three hours of Church this Sunday and they love it. The ward in Batac is super supportive of them. They don't actually live in Laoag, but we teach Al here at the mission home. He is progressing really fast and the whole family is doing great, though I have not met them yet. One of our other investigators, M, moved to Manila, which is really sad. She was very sincere and wanted to raise her child in the Church. We are going to try to get her information to refer her to the missionaries in Manila. We are still chipping away at N Si's fears about marriage. We still have really no idea what they actually are, which is a problem and she is not opening up about it. We need to think a bit more out side the box.

I want to wrap this email up with my testimony that the Lord is watching over all of us and he has a plan for us. We may not know why things are the way they are some times, but everything is for a reason. Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what each of us needs to in order to return to live with him and his will give us all of it. Experiences, friends, trials, that are part of his plan and will mold us into the people he intends for us to become. Thank you for all of your prayer for all of the missionaries around the world. We really feel them. Mahal kita! Mabuhay kayo lahat!

Elder Ryne Warrren Wood 

"The Lord has called me to do so I will do it" 4/28/13

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been an insane week. Probably the most insane week I have had on my mission. There was so much packed into this one week that my time for teaching lessons was super limited. Since it is the end of the month, Elder B had to finish all of the finance stuff for the month. I helped with some of the stuff, mostly just going through files checking for things he needed to finish up the report. He also had his training for finance Secretary, some of which President Barrientos had me sit in on. We had two days where we were in the office the entire day. It's certainly not easy, but it is what the Lord has called me to do so I will do it. 

We taught the Sim family three times this week. We are still trying to move up their marriage and baptismal date up to may instead of June. We had a family home evening with them on Sunday night. I think Sister Sim must be a bit confused. In the last 4 times we have taught them It has been me  but with a different companion each time. I have gone on exchanges with Elder P and Elder VB due to all of the office work that Elder B has to do. So in two weeks I have taught them twice on exchanges and twice with Elder B. Luckily I have ad the Eddingtons with me each time, so there has been something constant for them.

We had a very interesting opportunity in the office on Wednesday. We had a man from Seattle who is here with his wife come in and ask us if we could help him learn Ilocano. He and his wife are starting a school in Laoag and he needs to learn Ilocano to be able to communicate with the parents of the children and the other people he works with. We gave him some of the MTC language material and three copies of the Book of Mormon, (Ilocano, English and Tagalog). He even asked if he could study the language with us some time. He and his wife live in Elder P and Elder VB' area, so we are hoping they will be able to teach them.

We have had a type of district and zone activity this week, though really just because we have all ended up at the same restaurant after district meeting and after a baptism. As of last transfer the Laoag zone is now two zones. We were getting to big and too awesome for our own good. Joke lang. With all the new missionaries coming in especially sister missionaries they have had to double a few areas, many of them right here in Laoag. Our zone is fun and I am looking forward to Zone Training Meeting next week.

For a closing spiritual thought, in Sunday School yesterday we discussed keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. President and Sister Barrientos attended in our ward and President Barrientos explained Sabbath day observance the clearest I think I have ever heard it. The Sabbath Day really is a gift from our Heavenly Father. It is the day given to us by him to focus on him and draw near to him. He has promised us great blessing if we will follow this commandment. It is the day that we get to partake of the Sacrament and renew our covenants with him. Through the Sacrament, we receive again the Holy Ghost and are cleansed again from our sins. I know that as we all strive to keep the Sabbath holy and devote it to our worship and rest, we will be " more fully unspotted from the world".

Mahal Kita! Kita Kits! Mabuhay Kayo Lahat!

Elder RWood