"He's only mostly dead" (9/30/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Very first, my P-Day is now in Tuesday, so emails will now arrive on Tuesday and be read by me on Tuesday. This past week was transfer week and it was a crazy one. It was really weird to see Elder B, E H and Elder VB  pack up and leave on transfer day. I have been with them for 4 transfers now and we are close. But  the new office elders are great, so not too bad of an adjustment. I have been helping the three of them with their new duties, since they got just crash courses in their responsibilities. I guess it was a good thing that I enjoyed helping all of the office elders as well as doing my own work.

The financial world of the Philippines Laoag Mission is going well. As of today, I have signed contracts for two new apartments, given loans, done the month end report, paid for lots of stuff and still have loads to do! These past few days have been a but rough since one of the new office elders is sick. Luckily it isn't Elder M.  In this past week, all of the office staff including the APs and President have gotten sick, except for Elder M. For me, I got a sore throat thursday which then carried into Friday, when my voice was really hoarse and scratchy. Then I woke up Saturday morning and had no voice! I have never had that happen before and it is rough. I told President and Sister and when president called to check on me, I think he was surprised how bad it was. It's back now and I am healed up. There was a day where most of us were mostly dead.

It was a good batch that came in on Wednesday. There are lots of local Elders and Sisters coming in at this time and it is super awesome to see. They are all so full of energy and excitement it is contagious. As finance secretary there is a lot less that I have to do for incoming on transfer week. It all happens before transfer week.

I think I mentioned it in my last email, but the area I now work in is much smaller. President added sisters to Laoag 1 ward and they are working in the centro area that I used to. They are awesome sisters though and have already got the work rolling. I have mentioned in past letters about Mo, one of our investigators in centro. She is now being taught by the sisters and came to church on sunday! YEAH! It is so great to see the work of the Lord progressing through out the mission. we got a text from President Barrientos Sunday night that the mission had 101 baptisms in September. We are close to our goal of 1000 for the year. And this month is looking promising, I have already been asked to do two interviews for investigators of sisters in my district and around the world there are so many that are coming to Christ and entering the waters of baptism. I love this work.

For a quick spiritual thought, I have had the chance to study about the Atonement and the need for the Atonement. I love chapter two of James E. Talmage's Jesus The Christ, especially in connection with Alma 42. Christ is the only one who could preform the perfect and infinite atonement for all of the sons and daughters of God. he is our Savior and because of what he did all things that the Father hath are his. And he has made the promise that we will be joint heirs with him if we will believe on his name and follow his commandments. he loves us all and knows us all better than anyone except our Heavenly Father.

We just got back from traveling and are now ablt to do P-Day, so its time to close up. Mahal Kita!

Elder R Wood

Last Man Standing and a Typhoon (9/22/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

It's transfer day! And I am the only office Elder out of the four that have been here for 3 transfers that is remaining and I am now the finance secretary of the mission. Elder B, Elder VB and Elder H are all being transferred, the first two are now zone leaders and Elder H is a district leader and a trainer. One of our Assistants is also being transferred, Elder A and Elder T is our new  Assistant. He is my batch and was our first district leader in the MTC. The new office Elders are Elder M, Elder B and Elder P. Elder M is my new companion and the new supply manager, so he will take my place as finance when I am transferred. It is ironic since he was here a few transfers ago while waiting for his new trainee. 

I am now also the District leader of the Laoag 2 District and it is getting really big. One of the changes this transfer is that half of my area is becoming a sisters area. So there are now 8 missionaries in our ward. Our district has 14 missionaries in it. It is kind of ironic since 6 months ago the Laoag Zone was split since it was so big, but now both the zones it turned into are almost as big as the old one. There are so many new missionaries coming in right now. we have 28 coming Wednesday and then 30 in November. It will be interesting to see where all of them end up at. 

We weren't able to get much work in last week. Elder B and I have been preparing for me to take over and I have been doing the finance work since Thursday. We also traveled to Vigan this week to look at new apartments for the sisters down there, since that is one of the areas that is getting more missionaries. We were able to get in a few lessons with members. the M family (no relation to my new companion) has us over for a birthday party. One of the sons, whose wife is our recent convert, had his birthday and we shared a message with the entire family for the first time. 

There was a typhoon here on Saturday. It is the first time I have ever had that. the wind is crazy strong and the rain just pours down. Luckily it only lasted the one day and it wasn't to bad in Laoag. Up in Cagayan it got to signal 3, which is a pretty severe typhoon. I think they range them on a scale of 1-5, but I am not sure. All i know is it was bad enough that we were told not to go out and work. We did office work, though we had to fight through a few power outages. 

Well I am excited to get to start in my new responsibilities here in the mission. I know that the Lord will help me as I face this new transfer and I will be able to accomplish all that He needs me to. This is His work, the work of the salvation of men. He is the coordinator of all transfers, lessons, exchanges, incoming and departing, all of it is in His hands. That is why there is no force in this world that can stop the work. I know He is watching over all of His servants and over all of those who love him. Keep going with your work as member missionaries and the Lord will open doors for you. Thank you for all of the prayers you offer on the behalf of the missionaries. Mahal kita! Kita kits!

Elder R Wood

Here we GO!! (9/16/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Whew what a week it has been. It has been a blur of action nonstop. One of the biggest things that has been happening is my training to become finance secretary for the mission. I am still not sure when I will take over, but is probably going to be in the next few weeks. Transfer day is next week and it is going to be a big one. We have 29 missionaries arriving, with over half of them being foreigners. There is still a lot of preparation that has to go in to getting ready for it and that is what this week is going to be used on. And Zone Conference. I am really excited for Zone Conference. We have been told to study in the scriptures and in Preach My Gospel about repentance, so I have a pretty good idea on what the topic will be. 

This past week has just been full of office work. I really miss being able to teach those who I hgave come to love in my service here in the Philippines Laoag Mission, but I know that the Lord is watching over them and will bless me and Elder Balbin as we perform the other labors that he has asked us to do. Elder A our Zone leader mentioned it at lunch today after zone activity that one of the things President tells the zone leaders is that the Office Elders are the engine of the mission. And we are constantly running on overdrive I can tell you that.

Once again our lesson count was low this week, but it all came to fruit this Sunday. We had Sister F and the A Family begin the process to go to the temple for the first time in December. YEAH!!!!!!!! Both are focus from the ward and both are being very proactive in working towards this goal. They have great motivation from family, since one of the A's daughters is getting sealed this December and Sister F's daughter in Denmark just received her endowment. The Lord has blessed us with great success among the less active members here and we are looking forward to more as we give of ourselves. The F family and the S family are also both attending church regularly now. And our recent convert Al will get the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday. I love this work.

My time is a bit limited so this will most likely be a short one. We had a really fun zone activity earlier with both Laoag Zones at Marcos Stadium. We played capture the flag, ultimate frisbee and touch rugby. I know know how to play touch rugby so I need a rugby ball now. It was a blast and we needed the R&R in prep for this week.

Thank you for all that you do for all of the missionaries around the world. We feel your prayers for us and we appreciate the sacrifices you make for us. This truly is the Lord's work and he has entrusted it to us. It is our responsibility to do our best so that at the last day we can stand spotless before our Savior. This is his work and he will not let us fail. Mahal Kita!

Elder R Wood

LOTS OF PHOTOS (9/8/13)

Cape Bojeador

At Hannah's Resort

 

 

Elder RWood and Elvis

Elder B and Bro K (Ward Mission Leader) Yes it is still September

APs and Office Elders and Cape Bojeador Light House

Elder RWood at Cape Bojeador

Us and Hulk

 

Where to begin this week? (9/8/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

I am not even sure where to start this week. So much has happened in the past 7 days that I will run out of time before I will get it all out in this email. So pasensiya if this seems really scattered. So it all started on Tuesday with our work in centro Laoag. We has two amazing lessons with Monique and with Sister R. When we taught Monique, we got a very awesome surprise. We were teaching her about Gospel Dispensations and we asked her what prophet she knew of. She said the very first one that comes to mind is Joseph Smith. Whoah! She then explained that because of all the this Joseph had done he was a prophet. We were super excited and she has committed to baptism in October. We then taught Sister R about the Spirit world. she asked us last week about the terrestial kingdom, or why there are three places we can go. As we explained about the spirit world and the gospel being taught the the dead, I could see the Spirit working on her. She said she understood and is so grateful to have such a merciful Father in Heaven. We are hoping that will be a big help to her being baptized in October. The Spirit of Elijah is beginning to touch her already! 

Tuesday was travel! Elder B and I went to Santa Ana, the farthest area of the mission to sign a contract for a new apartment. That was a very long day. And then on Saturday we did it again, though this time with the APs ( E. O and E. A) and the other 2 office Elders. Also a long day. It was sad that we had to cancel appointments, but thanks to our awesome ward mission leader our investigators were still visted.

Thursday was ZTM and it blew me away. I gained so much insight on what I can do to become a batter missionary. Especially in finding new investigators, which is something that is hard for us in the office with limited proselyting time. I love having Zone Training Meeting Every month. Our Zone Leaders, Elder A and Elder P are so awesome. I have such great examples in my leaders. 

The next biggest thing that happened was today, which is the reason I am writing this at an abnormal time. we had P day with President and Sister Barrientos today and we went up north to Pagudpud. It is so beautiful there. I took tons of pictures and some are on this email. We have five cameras worth of pictures that we all have from this trip., One of the funnest parts was at the beach resort we stopped at to have lunch. The six of us office elders and APs started a game of sand volleyball and in less than 10 minutes had 6 other random strangers who joined in. That was a blast. It would have been nice to be able to share with them, but they all scattered after the game. 

So it has been a long week and the next one is going to be the same. We have transfers coming up in three weeks so we are continuing to prepare. we have almost 30 missionaries arriving. It is going to be so awesome. Thank you all for the prayers you offer for us missionaries. It really helps. There is nothing more powerful than the prayers of the righteous in helping accomplish the work of the salvation of men. Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah is a perfect example of that Because of the prayers of the righteous and his father, they were converted and became instruments in the hands of the Lord to help thousands come to a knowledge of the truth.  The Lord hears all our prayers and answers them all. Thank you again for all you do! Mahal Kita! 

Elder Ryne Warren Wood

Birthday Party Pics (9/1/13)

Cake

Cake, Elder RWood

Office Elders, Pres and Sister Barrientos

Pres Barrientos loved the party favors mom sent!!

Birthday Letter (9/1/13)

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for all of the Happy Birthday wishes! I have a couple of pictures attached from Thursday night when we went to Yellow Cab pizza to celebrate. That was a blast. That is one of the things that President and Sister do for the office Elders to try to ease the load of stress. Too bad for Elder VB he was on exchanges with the zone leaders in Bacarra, so Elder P got to join in the party.

It has been such an insane week. I realize that I most likely say that every week, but this week was more so than usual. Everything was pretty normal until Wednesday. President has been traveling doing interviews and he arrived on Wednesday. On Wednesday we were in flood lock down due to the rain. Lots of houses in Laoag got flooded, but luckily we didn't. We did office work and that was when the craziness started. I ended up picking up a sick missionary and taking him and his companion to the hospital, then Elder VB and I went to Vigan. The couple missionary finished their mission a few weeks ago and we need to get the furnishings from their apartment. But the truck had to go to Manila for repairs, so it had to be done that night. So we left for Vigan at 9 pm and got there around 10:45. With the help of the Elders in Vigan 2 we got everything out and where it needed to be and headed back. We got back around 3 am. So tired. I am still alive though.

This past week had its ups and downs on teaching. The biggest down was on Sunday. We went with Pres. Macanalay from the Stake Presidency to pick up E and R for Church. They had to go somewhere so they told us not this time. Then as we were driving away we got a text from them telling us that we don't need to come back again. They dumped us. E said her husband who is working abroad doesn't want her to keep listening to the message. As sad as it is, we have to respect their agency and just pray that when they have the chance again they will accept the invitation to be baptized. 

On the flip side, we had a couple of good lessons with Sister R and with the S family. Sister R committed to baptism on October 12, but we are still working to help her find a way to not work on Sunday, we have a few ideas, but we are still looking. We also had a great lesson with the S family yesterday. It was lead by our  ward mission leader, since the ward has added the family to our focus. It was all about the blessings of temples. I realized that it was exactly a year to the day that I received my endowment. I miss being able to go to them temple and look forward to the day when I can go again. I know that in the temple we are in the house of God. He has commanded his people to build temples so that we can do the needed ordinances for ourselves and for those who have gone on before. It is a great blessing and we should all show our thanks for it by attending as often as our situation permits. By the ordinances of the temple, we can become eternal families and what a blessing that is.

I hope everything is going well for everyone. I am very grateful for the prayers you offer for the missionaries. I helps us so much. Keep up the work in doing missionary work and helping move along the work of Salvation.There is no greater work than this!

Elder RWood