When Mormons Met, We Eat” –Elder J (8/31/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a great week of my final transfer. Tuesday We went to the bus station and I picked up Elder Jun and we headed right back to Pinili. Elder Jun is awesome. He is super diligent and positive and is a great zone leader! And we have a crazy connection. He is from Bacolod and was baptized in 2011 and guess who interviewed him for baptism? The then Elder M Wade! Yeah! My cousin interviewed my last companion for baptism right before going home! I was super excited when I found out and then I showed him pictures and he confirmed that it was Elder Wade. Small world!

For starters, Sher is doing great. He is really working hard to resist temptation to drink or smoke. He had a minor relapse but is still moving forward for baptism. In fact we can move his baptism forward a week if he keeps it up. During the combined class yesterday he said that he is ready for baptism now, in front of the entire branch. The entire family is doing really well and even Sher's mom is warming up to us and joining in all of the lessons. We had an FHE Saturday night there and Sher said that is was the first time in a long time that he has seen his Mom so happy. Yet another testimony of the truthfulness of this work and the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was awesome to hear them all singing "I am a Child of God" for our opening hymn at the FHE.

I had another experience this week that really touched my heart and made me think about my relationship with Heavenly Father. We went to teach a few of the referrals that we got last week at a members home. Not all of them were there but there was two of the little girls there who come to church each week. We taught them a simple lesson about Heavenly Father and sang I am a Child of God and Teach Me to Walk in the Light with them. In the middle of the lesson, the younger girl, Ath asked us if when we get to heaven we will be able to hug Heavenly Father. We answered yes and I could just feel the truth of that answer. God is our Heavenly Father and because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we will all be able to return to live with him someday. These precious truths are so important and we are all blessed to live in the time when the fullness of the Gospel is on the Earth. 

I had the chance to talk with President Galapia (Batac Stake Stake President) on Saturday about Pinili becoming a branch. He told me that all the paper work is done and has been sent to the Area Office for approval. It is getting close now. All of the members are very excited and we are looking forward to much more success in Pinili in the coming months and even after I am gone. WE are trying to set it up for baptisms for the rest of the year.  Elder Jun is awesome and is a great help in keeping me focused and not trunky. I love always being busy and doing all that I can to help others to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I got to sing for a musical number in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and I know that the Spirit testified to all the people there of the love of the Savior and how important he is for all of us. I know that he lives and because he Loves so will we. 

Thank you for all of the happy birthday wishes. I had a great birthday, though it was not what I expected. It was great because I got to spend it doing what I love, inviting others to come unto Christ. I know that this is the work of the Lord and there is no greater work. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Love,

Elder R Wood

The Board is Set, the Pieces are Moving (8/24/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

It's Transfers again! And I am staying in Pinili! Elder Ab is being transferred and I am getting a new companion, Elder Jun. He is a Filipino and a new zone leader, so I finally get my wish to train a new Zone Leader. Pinili will be my last area then. During interviews last week, I asked President if I was going to be transferred. He asked me if I wanted one more area. He then told me to just text him if I wanted one more or not. I never texted him. Haha. I was rather surprised when we got the text yesterday telling us that Elder Ab would be transferred. I am excited for this new adventure in the coming 6 weeks.

We had an outstanding week in Pinili. With several surprises. One was yesterday when we showed up at the meeting house. I noticed that the inside looked slightly different. When we went in, to our surprise it was very different. We now have more chairs and a stand and stuff that is in meeting houses that wasn't there before. Apparently the furnishings from an old meeting house in a different district were put there since the other branch just got a chapel. So now the meeting house looks much nicer, but we are still trying to figure out how best to arrange the chairs. I will send a picture next week

We found a load of new investigators this week also. Some came off of our own finding efforts, but most came from a current investigator. We went back to a referral on Saturday and ended up teaching almost the entire family. They all just joined us. It was awesome! We were only expecting a few to join the lesson but we were pleasantly surprised. We are looking to get even more this week off of some other referrals that we contacted yesterday. There is a good number of people who have been coming to church who aren't even investigators yet. We have return appointments for all of them now, including the grandmother of one of our recent converts who is very excited to listen to us and loves church. There is also a group of primary kids who are the relatives of an active member who have now come to church twice that we will start teaching on Saturday. The Lord is opening the way in Pinili!

Sher is still doing great. He comes to church each week, participates in classes and is still living the word of wisdom. He always has stories for us of how people he used to drink with don't even bother trying to get him to drink anymore. He and his family are super strong and he is excited for baptism on September 27. We are also looking to get some referrals from them in the coming weeks. 

We met an RM this week who began his mission back when the Laoag Mission was just starting. It was neat to get to talk with him about his experiences and how things have changed since he served. He was in the 3rd batch to have the call to the Laoag Mission. He visits regularly and Pinili was his last area also. It is kind of odd talking to RMs thinking that that will be me in October. That is still far away though and there is much still to do!

We had interviews this past week with President Barrientos and during that we also received some training on emergency preparedness. Since this area is prone to typhoons and earthquakes, we all have a 72hr kit and practiced what to do in the case of an emergency. We found out that if there was a typhoon we would all live, but with how we responded an earthquake would kill us. Good thing we practiced. 

I feel like I easily run out of things to say in these emails. If anyone has any questions or anything that they would like to ask, just email me and I will answer them in my next email. I know that the Lord's hand is at work in these days and that through his living prophets and apostles he is continuing the work that has been going since the time of Adam. We are all so blessed to have a part in this work and to have the restored gospel in our lives. 

Love,

Elder RWood

8/17/14

Dear Family and Friends,

So when I opened up my ldsmail account it took me to the account setting page. It was then that I realized that it must now be two years since I opened up my missionary email account. What a crazy thought. Tomorrow, Tuesday is my 23 month mark. It is so insane! Where has the time gone! Anyway, I changed my password for the last time and was very excited to see a full inbox. 

This week was another one of the awesome busy weeks. We started doing our new exchanges. usually Zone Leaders only go on exchanges with the District Leaders, but President Barrientos has instructed us to now go on exchanges with as many of the Elders in the Zone as possible. So we had exchanges with one of our district leaders on Wednesday then I worked with the Elders in Batac on Thursday after district meeting while Elder Ab worked with Elders in the next town over. The exchange went well, though we weren't able to teach as much as we hoped. All the missionaries here in Batac were invited to a memorial service for a person in the Elders area. This man was not a member but had a dream about the church right before he died. So he left instructions that his memorial service was to be done by the church. It was a nice memorial service and the Elders set return appointments for a few of the family members to teach them more. There was also a memorial service going on outside of the apartment, but it ended right after 10:30, so it didn't bother us too much.

Update on Sher: He relapsed on Friday. Disappointing, but, not the end. He is back on his feet and starting again on recovering and not drinking. He was far way from home with his friends when it happened. He confessed on his own though and is now getting ready for baptism on September 27. He missed church on the 10th of August and he attributes his relapse in part to that. He told us he is never going to miss another day of church. His mother also joined us for the first time on Saturday. She always listens from another room when we teach then talks with the family about how great the things she hears are once we leave. They all love watching the Restoration DVD we gave them and the Stories from the Doctrine and Covenants DVD. Sherwin even takes notes while watching and tells us what he learned. Please keep him in your prayers.

We are working to try to get more of our investigators with baptismal dates to progress. The biggest issue for most of them is church. Even for the ones less than a block from the church. That is our focus this coming week, helping our investigators come to church. It will take lots of faith and prayers but the Lord can work miracles if we do our best. One of the groups we will be working on is our investigators that live just down the street from the meeting house. They are a part member family and one of their friends. The son of the member, is a Tae Kwon Do champion in Korea who got a blessing from the missionaries years ago. He reads from the Book of Mormon and is very active in the lessons. They have baptismal dates for October 4 (my last Saturday) and we have high hopes for them. 

One of the things that I love about Pinili is the help that we get from the members. We had two miracles happen with fellowshippers this week. One was on Wednesday, when the second counselor in the Bishopric worked with us all day (8 hrs of work). The other was on Friday when we were in a really far out area without a fellowshipper and things weren't looking good. Then almost out of the blue our ward mission leader texted us and asked where we were at, and he was near by. So he worked with us for the rest of the day and then the next day also. The Lord is really looking out for all of His servants and is opening up the way for us to do his work. I have really realized that there is no way this work would work without the direct help of the Lord. These are the last days and there is no work as important as the work of salvation. He is directing it and it will not fail.

Thanks for all of the support and prayers. Keep doing what ever part of this work the Lord has given you to do. There is great joy in doing the work of the Lord, greater than in any other work. I know that for a fact. Kita kits!

Love,

Elder R Wood

Even the Stake President is Mocking Me... (8/10/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

So just to explain the title of the email, the closer that I get to finishing my mission, the more jokes I hear about how soon I am going home. It happened all throughout MLC, and whenever I see the missionaries in the Zone. And then in our meeting with the Stake President on Saturday he also dropped a "missionaries soon to go home" comment. It wasn't specifically directed at me, but all of the other Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders directed it at me. I now can say that I regret making jokes at all of the missionaries who have gone home before me. What we sow, we reap. 

So since I emailed last Tuesday, it has been a pretty normal week. I have new glasses now though, just as a random fun fact. I miss contact lenses though. There was so much to do this week with all of the meetings that we had. We had Zone Training Meeting on Thursday and then Stake Correlation Meeting on Saturday. Through all of that on top of a full proselyting load and what do you get? A very busy yet happy Elder Wood.  I really love all of the work that I have been called to do as a missionary. I love the feeling of being busy in the work of the Lord and the busier I am the easier it is to forget myself. I love the quote by President Benson in Preach My Gospel "I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work” (PMG pg 121). 

So the work in Pinili is still rolling on. We were a bit reduced on our week last week due to all of the meetings, but we are looking forward to a better week this week. Sher is still doing well and has not smoked in two and a half weeks now. He didn't come to church yesterday, since some of the people he is planting rice with came and took him to go inspect the last field that they are going to plant. He has been coming to church consistently for over a month up until now. We are going to make sure that he understands tonight why he needs to keep church as a priority on Sunday as part of his preparation for baptism. He is doing really well and the members are all super supportive of all the people we teach.

We have a couple of really great investigators that I think I have mentioned in the past that I will mention again. One is A Pagdi. Elder Seum and I found her a long time ago, but only recently have we been able to teach her. She is really interested and always has questions for us. She is active in her church, but she is learning much as she is reading the Book of Mormon and listening to us. We have high hopes for her. The other is Ferd B, who is like A in that he is super interested with great questions. Yesterday as we taught about Heavenly Father he asked us to explain and clarify about the Godhead. He said that he felt there was something missing in his knowledge that he could seem to find in his church. We did and it clicked for him. He was super happy with his new found knowledge and was super receptive and attentive as we taught. 

We are getting lots of help from the members also in Pinili. We have almost all of the Melchezidek priesthood holders working with us at least once a week. We are also getting some referrals, which are turning into some really good investigators. We just got a referral for a family this week, who turned out to be a part member family who has had some great contact with missionaries and members in the past. I have really seen the blessings of the Lord poured out upon me and the members here in Pinili. It has come along way from where it was when I got here. transfers is in a few weeks, so who knows what will happen to me? I am grateful for every chance that I get to serve no matter where it is that I am and no matter what my responsibilities are. God needs us all working together to help "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man " (Moses 1:39). ANd with the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can all do more than we think we can and all God's children have the potential to gain eternal life. I know that all of these things are true and we are all blessed to live in a time where the fullness of the Gospel is on the Earth. Let us never forget what that means to each of us.

Thanks for all of the support and prayers in behalf of those I teach and me. Remember that there is no greater cause than this!

Love,

Elder R Wood

Go Astonish Someone (8/4/14)

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a crazy, awesome week. We just had MLC yesterday and it was another 6 hours of revelation and spiritual goodness. The focus for the month is on quality teaching. President Barrientos and the APs have done a really good job in getting us all ready to present our trainings on Thursday. President really wants us to instill in the missionaries a desire to baptize. There is so much that is required of us as leaders, missionaries and as members of the church in general. Some times we may feel overwhelmed with all that we have to do, but our Heavenly Father has provided the way for us to be relieved from any and all stress that we may go through. That way is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that the burdens that we are called to bear in this life will not be lifted completely from us, for that would defeat the purpose of this life. But because of the Atonement those burdens will serve to refine us and will not crush us. It we will yoke ourselves unto Christ and live His gospel, he will help us through all that we go through. President Barrientos' first training was helping us understand why as missionaries it is so important to understand and access the Atonement. When we understand and have access to the atonement, we will be able to help others do so to, which will lead them to baptism and fulfill the plan of salvation. I cannot describe here all  that I learned but the things that I learned have help me see what things I need to change in my life to have better access to the Atonement. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the way that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Our Savior Jesus Christ went through unspeakable pain and suffering so that all who will come unto him may have the gift of eternal life.

Pinili is still doing well. Sher has gone almost 2 weeks now living the word of wisdom. He had a slight relapse and smoked 1/4 of a cigarette, so we are really focusing all of our lessons on the Atonement and repentance. I know that all of the progress that he has made is because of the Atonement. There is no other way that any of us could change our lives for the better. The whole situation of the Aqu family has gotten so much better and I love to see them close again as a family. That is the power of the Atonement in action. 

We found some new less actives this week. Actually, we taught them for the first time this week, but we have known where they are for a while. They live really far away, have been less active for over 10 years and almost all of them say that they are part of different religions now. But when we taught to Jul and his sister, Gem, Juli was very attentive and we could tell that he could feel that Spirit testifying to him again that the Gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. We hope to get out to them again in the coming weeks so we can keep helping them on the path back to all of the blessings that come from full activity in the church. 

Just to close out, the title of this email was the commitment of President Barrientos to all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. We are to go out and teach by the Spirit in a way that the people who we teach will recognize that the authority by which we teach is from God, just as Jesus Christ taught. We have a great responsibility and privilege to take the gospel to all the world and the Lord is counting on all of us. Our Savior has set the example and we are to become like him. I know that He lives and He loves us all. Of all the things I have learned on my mission, the Atonement is the one I have learned the most and experienced the most. I know that it is the power of God unto the salvation of his children and we all have a part in it. Let us cheerfully do all that we can and then stand still with confidence that we will see the hand of the Lord in all things. Thanks for all of your love and support! 

Love,

Elder R Wood