Back to Laoag Again (6/30/14)

Family and Friends,

This is going to be a bit scattered and probably short. I am in Laoag again for MlC and I don't have much time. President surprised us all again by having MLC a week early and we have the activity tomorrow, which is going up in the northern part of Ilocos Norte to see a bunch of tourist sites. it is a once in a life time opportunity and we are all super excited. Even getting up at 5 am won't kill the excitement. 

Quick update on the work in Pinili. Sister Aqu and her two kids are set for their baptismal interview next week and her husband, Sher, accepted a baptismal date for August 30. He came to church for the first time yesterday and he really enjoyed it. He had to leave early since he was sick, but he was welcomed very warmly by all of the members and wants to go again! He said all the people that he passed on the way to church with his family were shocked to see him going to church. He is now reading the Book of Mormon and is doing great. He is determined to follow his family into the waters of baptism.

We also found a few really solid new investigators this week. One, Ne, started talking with us while we were walking near his home and he opened up to us and basically shared his life story with us. We shared a short message with him and his niece and he really wanted us to come back and share again. He said he feels that the message of the Restoration is the way that God has prepared for him to receive help for his trials. Sadly he wasn't there when we went back on Saturday. We also contacted Ap, the daughter of one of our other investigators. She is very receptive and really wants us to teach her entire family. We had one of our recent converts as a fellowshipper for that lesson and he shared a really great testimony of how the gospel has blessed his life and how he came to know that he had found the truth. It was a very powerful lesson and we are excited to go back on Thursday.

I was not in Pinili for over 48 hours last week due to exchanges with our District Leader in Callaguip and then the APs in Laoag. I learned much these two exchanges and especially liked working with Elder T in Laoag. We were in the MTC together and we had a great exchange, even with the pouring rain. Hooray for members with cars! We found this one house with many new people, some of them on vacation from Italy (all are Filipino though). I was super tired by the time I went home from the two days, but I think mostly it was from the great spiritual experiences I had.

MLC today was great, focusing on working with members and being Christ like leaders. The more that i have been studying the more that I realize that the whole point of our life on earth is to become like our Heavenly Father through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. President Barrientos explained the Atonement really clearly in the perspective of missionaries and overcoming trials and challenges. I am so grateful to have a Savior, even our elder brother Jeusus Christ, who opened the way for us to become like him no matter what we face in life. 

Time is ticking gone and I have to run. Thanks for the support and prayers. Keep doing everything that you can to move this work forward in whatever wya you can!

Love,

Elder Wood

And then it began to rain...hard...and didn't stop (6/22/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

Another busy week it has been in Pinili. Each week just gets better and better as time flies by. I can't believe that I am already writing another email. It feels like only a few days ago I was writing my last one. Time is just flying, but there is so much joy to take in each minute that goes by while doing the Lord's work. 

Just a short story to explain the title. I went on exchanges this past week in Badoc, a town just south of Pinili. I worked with Elder Ta and we had a great day, including finding several new investigators who now have baptismal dates. It was super hot in the morning (I actually got a bit sunburned, members were asking why my face was the color of a tomato). We went out after studies at 4 and around 5 in the afternoon the weather turned. By six it was pouring rain and we ended up walking back to the apartment at 8 through flooded streets. The water was ankle deep at some spots and of course, I wasn't wearing my rubber shoes. We only had the one umbrella too, since I pulled another smart move and didn't bring mine. And Elder Ta is startled by lightning, so whenever there was a flash of lightning he would jump then just stop where ever he was standing. Definitely a day that will not be forgotten soon. It was my second one like that.

We have made some great progress this past week in Pinili. We have had several great lessons with the Aq family and we extended a baptismal date to Bro. Sher for the middle of August. He has not yet accepted it, but he is thinking about it. We are going to have to give him more focus, since he has not yet come to church and he is still struggling with word of wisdom. Sister V and the two children came to church again though and are well on the way to baptism on July 12. I will keep you posted in the coming weeks on their progress. 

We are still working on getting more investigators with a baptismal date, since that is one of our weak points currently. We extended one to Ald, an investigator who is the cousin of some less actives, but he is not sure if he will be in Pinili still or when he is gong to move home. We found a few other new investigators that we will be extending baptismal dates to soon, including the former Vice Mayor of Pinili, a former pastor who is now looking for the true church, and some people who were visited by missionaries before, but for no reason, just stopped investigating. We are hoping to find more of those that the Lord is preparing in the coming week.

Yesterday after church, we went out to try to teach a family we found a few weeks ago, but again they were too busy to let us teach them. We moved on, not really sure where to go when it  began raining again. We took shelter in a park and tried to think of where else to go. Suddenly I remembered, or most likely the Spirit brought to my mind, a lady we had talked to right after I arrived in Pinili, Sister Ferz. We hadn't gone back to her yet so when the rain let up a bit we hurried over to her house. Her and her husband were there and we taught them a short message about the restoration, they are both interested and one of their grandsons came down at the end of the lesson who was also interested to learn more. We are going back to them next Sunday before Church and will be getting some members involved also, since they know many members. This experience was one that for me, was a testimony of the importance of the Spirit in this work. In our moment of need the Spirit brought to our minds where we needed to go to invite someone to come unto Christ. Some one who has been prepared by the Lord. The prepared are out there and it is up to us to search them out and bring them into the fold of the Good Shepherd.

Just in closing I want to share with you about the reoccurring theme of my personal study this past week. I have been reading in Alma and am at the point where Alma is giving counsel to Corianton. In Alma 40-42, Alma explains very clearly the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. One of the things that stood out to me very clearly is the role of repentance in the great plan of happiness. Repentance is as necessary as the Resurrection because it is the process by which we are changed from the fallen state of man into the children of God that we must become to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. We are to become the sons and daughters of God through the Atonement. That is the great blessing of the Atonement, for that change we cannot make on our own. But because Heavenly Father sent his Only Begotten Son to atone, we can now make that change. Christ filled the demands of justice and has given us the Gospel, what we need to do to show our appreciation for His sacrifice and qualify for the blessings of the Atonement. If any of you have not yet read Brad Wilcox's talk "His Grace is Sufficient" I highly recommend it. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and as we live the way he has instructed us to and shown us, we can all change and be lifted up at the last day. I have learned much about the atonement this week and don;t have time to share it all here sadly. It truly is the center of God's plan and the greatest, most selfless act ever performed.

I hope everyone has a great week this coming week. Thanks for all the love and prayers. God bless you all!

love,

Elder R Wood

Hey, Elder Wood, talk to this guy... (6/15/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a great week in Pinili! It rained almost everyday this past week, which made it a bit of a problem to get our laundry dry, but it did get dry. We now have water pressure in our apartment too because of the rain! And it isn't s hot anymore.

So the best part of the week was our MLC and Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Ardern. Elder Ardern is the Area President of the Philippines Area. They are from New Zealand so they have awesome accents. I didn't have a hard time understanding them luckily, having now been around New Zealanders and Aussies. It was such a great experience to get to be in both meetings and to hear their insights and testimonies about the gospel and missionary work.

During MLC, Elder and Sister Ardern both focused on Christ-like leadership and becoming a master gospel teacher. Elder Ardern showed us how to "unpack the scriptures" no matter what our current situation or calling is. They were really focused on how we as leaders we are agents of change for the missionaries and the people around us. By focusing on obedience we are able to help others to bring the power of the Atonement into their lives and they can become the people and servants that the Lord needs them to be. I really love that phrase agents of change. It reminds me of the phrase in the scriptures that the we are agents to act for ourselves, and not to be acted upon. That gives us the opportunity to help others and to grow ourselves. Our life here on Earth is so important in our eternal progression. 

During Zone Conference with Elder Ardern, I had the privilege of conducting, so I got to sit on the stand between him and President Barrientos and assist with some of the trainings and demonstrations. during Zone Conference, the focus was how important the mission is for the rest of our lives and our eternal salvation. Elder and Sister Ardern both taught about how one of the greatest measures of how successful a missionary is is what their life is like after their mission. Being 3 transfers away from going home that really sank into my heart. Sometimes as missionaries we forget that there is going to be a life after the mission. Personally, I don't find that bad, since it help s us focus on the work at hand. But when we remember that, our work takes on a whole new aspect in it's importance. We are making choices and doing things that become part of who we are. We are showing to the Lord that we are capable of living in a higher way and being exactly obedient in all things. This is our training ground, though most of the changes are, in our perspective, small and slow. But they will make all of the difference in eternity. To sum up Zone Conference, Elder Arden said "Now is the time. This is the place. We are the ones!" I have been working hard to apply the things that we learned in my work and in my personal life.

But wait, there is more! We also had stake conference this weekend and we got to watch a live broadcast from Salt lake that was broad cast to all of the stakes and districts in the Philippines. It was such a great conference and the testimonies and stories from Elder Cook, Elder Teh, Bishop Davies and Sister McConkie really touched the people listening. Especially the talk by Elder Teh, since he is from the Philippines and the stories that he shared were specifically from people in the Philippines. We had two investigators, some less actives and a bunch of recent converts come. Everyone was spiritually uplifted I personally came away with many things that I can do to improve. 

As for the work in Pinili, we are starting to make progress! The Aq family is doing well and Bro. Sher wants us to teach at their home. There is also a family who is friends with them who wants to be taught since they are seeing the changes in their lives, especially in Sher. We will try to teach them this week. One of our recent converts, Mony, is going on the youth temple trip this week and is so excited, She has been packed since Thursday, but they travel today. We have a goal this week to focus our finding on prospective priesthood holders, since that is what the branch needs. As a short note, Elder R told me that CC in Gonzaga just passed her baptismal interview. And I just saw one of my investigators from Laoag who is getting baptized this weekend. I know that the work we do in the service of God is beyond what we realized. Every person with whom we share the gospel is touched by the Spirit and the seeds of faith are planted in them. We may not see the harvest in this life, but it will come. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he is our way back to our Heavenly Father. There is no other way nor name given by which we can return. 

Thanks for all of the support and prayers!

Love,

Elder R Wood

I will explain the title next week....

From Sea Side to Moutian Valley (6/8/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

It has only been a week since transfers but so much has happened in this past week that I don't have time to think about Gonzaga any more except in my prayers. I have settled into Pinili now and Elder Se and I are very excited to be working hard. The missionary I replaced wasn't the most obedient missionary in the world, so things were a bit hard in Pinili last transfer. But we are moving forward and have made some great progression.

I want to just tell you about Pinili for a minute. It is set off the main road a good 15 minutes and is very mountainous. Lots of hills. I love the terrain so far. I really have missed the mountains and I am currently right in the middle of the mountains. I do miss the ocean though, since Gonzaga and Buguey were right there by the sea. It has also rained almost constantly since Saturday night, so the weather is very cool. It is just bad news for our clothes drying today. Pinili is the place where the Independente Filipino Iglesia was founded, which is just a schism in the Catholic church, so that is the dominant religion. As for the members of the Church in Pinili, they are all really good and the faithful are really faithful. Pinili is not a branch. It is also not a group. It just kind of is, if you understand what I mean. I asked the Stake President about it and he said that they just need 1 or 2 more full tithe paying Melchezidek Priesthood holders to make it a branch. A member of the closest ward's Bishopric, comes every Sunday and presides at the service. We are small in numbers but large in faith. It reminds me much of our little branch in Owyhee. My goal is to do all that I can to bring Pinili closer to becoming a branch before I leave.

We have been doing a lot of finding in the past week and we have found a few great potential and new investigators. We have also found some long time less actives. My favorite so far, is the Aq family. They are not new, but they are our investigators who are preparing for baptism in July. Sister V and her two kids are set on the date of July 12 (Sister V had a dream that she was being confirmed which to her was the answer to her prayers). Sher, the father of the family is coming much slower because he has a serious alcohol addiction, but he is coming along. He says that the day is going to come when he will join his family, but he wants to kick his addiction first. He told us last night thought that he wants to be with his family in the Church. I know that the Lord will work a miracle in his life and that he will be healed from the scars of his addiction through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I just want to share a short thought from my personal study this morning. I was studying about the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a realization. So often we talk of the Gospel as just faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. But as I was reading in the scriptures and preach my gospel I realized that the very first doctrine of the Gospel is that Christ is our Savior, that he"came into the world to do the will of the Father and the Father sent him to be lifted up". The whole gospel is centered on Jesus Christ and what he did. I suppose that is why the Prophet Joseph said that all else in our church is appendages to our belief in the Atonement. The Gospel is given us by Christ because he satisfied the law through his atonement. Thus he is the mediator of the covenant that will allow us to return to our Heavenly Father. It all comes down to him in the end. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God. I know he lives and loves us, and because he lives, so will we.

Time to wrap up. We have MLC and mission tour with Elder Ard on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Apparently the Stake conference is going to be presided by Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve. Not sure if it is live or just a broadcast, but everyone has said it is live. Guess we will find out! Thanks for all your suport and love!

Love,
Elder Ryne Warren Wood

From Gonzaga to Pinili, Most Likely Never to Return (6/2/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

This is going to be super short. It is a really hectic day since we are in Aparri to withdraw and it is also withdraw day. Transfer calls went out last night and we got called. I am being transferred down to the southern part of the mission, to a small town called Pinili (in English- was chosen). My new companion is Elder S and we are the Zone Leaders of the Batac 1 Zone. He does indeed have along name. I know him from my time in the office and am super excited to get to work with him. I have always wanted a Polynesian companion and now I have one! Also, it is very likely that Pinili will be my last area, since I am now down to three transfers.

All of the people in Gonzaga were very sad to hear that I would be transferred. We didn't know for sure until last night, but we had told everyone that there was a chance that I would be leaving. We had an FHE earlier in the week and we had almost the entire community there. The members that hosted it said that everyone really wants there to be another one soon. We are hoping to have some good finding opportunities from the FHEs. We also met a new family, the Ase family. We only taught them once, but they are really interested, especially when we talked about eternal families. I love teaching families and seeing how the gospel brings them closer together. 

We have been doing more work with the Less Actives in our area. One of them is a neighbor of a bunch of members (active and less active) and she came to church with the daughter of one of our less active focus families. It is kind of ironic since the two times that we taught the family, the daughter who came to church was never there for the lessons, but the rest of the family who we did teach didn't come. We have some really awesome recent converts in our area too and almost all of them came to church. I am going to miss Gonzaga, but I am looking forward to new adventures in Pinili, Ilocos Norte. I am looking forward to new opportunities to learn and grow. There is always much to do and so little time in which to do it, or so it seems.

Just a quick insight from personal study to close off. I read in Alma 33 and I realized that it is just as great a discourse on faith as Alma 32 is. I love how simple and clearly Alma teaches that all our faith must be centered in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. That is where all of our hope comes from and the only way by which we can be safely guided through this life to eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father. We must never lose that focus of the Savior, for if we do, we lose all. I know that Christ is the Savior and that there is no other way for us to return to our Heavenly Father and to get through this life while receiving all the blessings God has in store for us. I know that He lives. 

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

love,

Elder R Wood