Sorry I meant to send "THIS IS THE LORD'S WORK" in my long email to you peeps, but it accidentally sent all on its own... hahaha but seriously this is the Lord's work!! We are teaching a couple of investigators right now! Most of them are just our teachers pretending to be investigators that they taught on their missions, but we also are teaching this lady named Barbara and from what we have been told these people could be members or they might not be members... So this is like real life stuff... TERRIFYING... hahaha We have taught Barbara twice now and the first time we taught her it was really really bad.... haha Like way bad. We just sort of threw out stuff about the gospel and it was really confusing and I was starting to panic because you could tell she was really confused. As my other companions were talking I had the strongest impression to talk to her about YOU Mom. Barbara talked about her mother and father and how they died when she was really young and she was put in a ton of different foster homes, she became extremely bitter towards God. She said that if this is what God's love is really about she didn't want to be apart of it. I had the feeling like I should talk about you being diagnosed with cancer and how I felt bitter towards God for awhile as well. We talked about it for a little and then I had her read my favorite scripture Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." The spirit instantly flooded the room and you could tell that things clicked to her and that she felt like we really truly cared about her and that we weren't just there to shove the gospel down her throat! SHE LET US COME BACK!! That was such a relief! The second visit we had with her was incredible! We all finally learned that we need to make sure the spirit is there testifying to her about the truthfulness of the gospel! She committed to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and to pray for herself to know if it is true and if God really does love her!! AWESOME! It was seriously the best feeling ever! I finally felt a little bit of how God must feel when one of His children communicates with Him or has that desire to learn more about the gospel! I love Barbara and seriously cannot wait to teach her again on tuesday! Ever since I have been here at the MTC I have been praying to have an experience or for the spirit to testify to me why I am here. And I got my answer so powerfully on Thursday!! The spirit was sooooo strong! I have never felt the spirit so strong! I finally was able to realize that this mission is not for me or about me! I am not here to learn more about the gospel for myself or to become a better person for me. I am here to invite OTHERS to come unto Christ! I have to get out of the way and let the spirit teach because the spirit is the real teacher in all of our lessons! It is such a powerful feeling and experiece when I let the spirit work through me! We are not here to shove the gospel down anyones throat we are here to love them and let them know how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help them according to their needs!! SO COOL!! 
Sorry for rambling on.... I feel like I have been on these spiritual high for a long time and it helps get me excited about going into the mission field! WHICH IS IN LIKE 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have my itinerary. We are suppose to go to the travel office at 4:35 am on January 6th and we will probably be at the airport around 6 or 7 probably... The flight leaves at 10:00ish... I will give you people more information next Saturday when I know a little more! BUT I GET TO CALL YOU IN 10 DAYS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! hahahaha I am so excited! But the MTC life just keeps getting better and better! That first little bit was definitely rough because everything was so new and I was not use to everything that was happening. I feel like I am finally starting to get the hang of things around here! Time goes by soooooo fast and I feel like there is just not enough time in the day to learn everything that I need to learn! Getting up in the morning is not too bad anymore! I mean I am still tired, but my body is getting use to waking up and going going going!! I also haven't even missed my phone..... (Weird, right??!) I really never even think about it oooooor I never have any time to think about it.... hahaha either way I am doing great without it! Christmas here was awesome!! We had a fun talent show with all the missionaries and it was great! We then got to hear from..........................................wait for it..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! He passed out 200 cell phones and we had a question answer time with him. They had all the MTC all over the world doing this too! So you would text an inspired question to his i-pad and he would pick one and then answer it! The thing that has stuck out to me the most that he talked about was the question," I just feel so inadequate, is that wrong?" He told us that "if you don't feel inadequate then you probably have a problem. You ought to feel inadequate" I really have needed that because I feel inadequate all the time!!!!! Anyway it was awesome! Christmas was awesome! Very different, but a once in a lifetime experience! The sisters in my district are doing pretty good! There are some things we are working on, but it is moving along just fine! I am still giving out those hugs all the time to all the sisters in my branch!!!!
I LOVE YOU PEOPLE SOOOOOOOO much!! I am sooo glad that you guys had a great Christmas! I have been a little homesick, but for the most part I am doing great! I hope you have a fantastic week! I will send out another email next Saturday before I fly out to Jersey! Also I will probably be writing a letter because I have so much to say and just not enough time! I am only allowed an hour on email! LOVE YOU PEOPLE!
Love, Sister Woodland
P.S. I would love some more drugs Mom (: and if you wouldn't mind I ripped a pair on my tights.... whoops.... Could you send like 2 more pairs of black tights and maybe another pair of brown tights??? YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!
