July 28, 2014 (I love being a missionary.)
Hey Fam.
So this week went by SO fast. Like ridiculously fast. I felt like Sister Trias and I never had time to just sit down and breathe! haha But it is all good because ELIZABETH WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY! It was seriously such an amazing experience! I am still completely in awe with how incredible she is and just how prepared she was. Preparing for a baptism can be just the tiniest bit stressful, but everything worked out perfectly! The relief society brought it dessert of all kinds! We were thinking we were only going to have like cookies and maybe a plate of brownies, but they brought a ton of stuff! We also didn't think that we were going to have so many members of the ward there, but SO many of them came and supported Elizabeth! (: The spirit was so strong during her entire baptism! I was a mess... haha I was expecting that though... haha But I cannot even describe the feelings that I felt watching Elizabeth make this covenant with our Heavenly Father. She came out of the water grinning from ear to ear! She bore her testimony at the end of the program and it was incredible! It was such a powerful testimony! People kept telling Sister Trias and I that they couldn't believe how much knowledge she has about the gospel and how it seems like she has been a member for forever! I really have never felt so much happiness for someone else to make this sacred promise with our Heavenly Father. I still feel way to blessed to have been the missionaries who taught her, but I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that I got to be her missionary! I know that I am in this area and that I was supposed to stay in this area so that I could meet her and be a part in her conversion process! Things like this make every single hard time on the mission worth it. To see the joy that she had after she was baptized was seriously indescribable! I am grateful to our Ward for their love and fellowship! I hope that her husband and mom were able to be touched by the spirit and that they will never forget the feelings they had at Elizabeth's baptism! They seemed to really like it and her husband even said that he feels so loved! It is amazing to see the gospel work in our lives! I JUST LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON & BACK!! WE GOT THIS!
Love, Sister Woodland
July 21, 2014 (Fireflies)
Hey. (:
So once again this week has just flown by... I seriously don't understand where the time goes anymore! I feel like I can't keep up with things sometimes! THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO. This week was a pretty great week! Nothing too insane happend... Which is definitely different for me... something crazy usually always happens... hahaha We are still teaching Elizabeth and she is on date to be baptized for July 27th still! She is soooo excited and I am sooo excited for her! She really is the best! She teaches me more than I think we teach her! Her mom is going to fly out for her baptism and her husband will be there too! So we are excited to see the spirit touch them as they are able to witness her baptism! Getting prepared for her baptism has been a little stressful... Our members have all been out of town and our ward mission leader just got changed. So we are struggling getting a hold of people and figuring out her baptism with the ward! Sunday was crazy! It was the first time we have had Ward Counsel in like a month so that is when the majority of the ward met Elizabeth and found out about her baptism. I felt like i was running around like a chicken with my head cut off... hahaha We got most things figured out though so it's alllll goooood! (: We have been doing a lot of service this week so it has been fun! We got to help out at a Methodist church! We served food at their soup kitchen! It was a really neat experience because we aren't allowed to contact people ourselves and talk with them about the gospel, but we can if they ask questions! A lot of people asked questions or made comments about other missionaries they have met and how helpful they were! It was amazing to hear all of their stories! It is easier when people come up to us and ask question than when we approach them! It is definitely less threatening I think!! We got to help at the food bank again this week and then they invited us to come over for a barbecue! So we got to do that and meet new people there as well! We helped a man move in and lots of other things! It has been a busy week full of service opportunities! I loved it! I love constantly going and helping others! It is my favorite thing to do! So, we had a good week! (: We are still working on getting in contact with our other investigators more! Hopefully this week will determine whether or not they are really interested! I have a feeling like this upcoming week is going to go by SOOO fast! Seriously time keeps going by way too quickly! There are fireflies out now though!!!! They are beautiful! I love when it is about 5 or 6 at night because they are everywhere! It really is beautiful! The first time I saw them I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! haha I know that I am going to really miss them when I come home! They make the summer SO great! They make up for the crazy humidity! hahaha
Well, I am glad that things are going good back at home! It sounds like you guys are having a great summer!!! When does school start again?! Crazy how fast the summer is going... Well, I miss you crazy people! I hope that you have the best week EVER! Thanks for being so amazing!!!
LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON AND BACK! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister Woodland
p.s. so can we all go kayaking when I get home...??? (: haha
July 14, 2014 (Pictures)
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| We got caught in the pouring rain!!! So instead of letting it get us down... WE PARTIED IN IT! (: |
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| Puddle Jumpin! <3 |
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| HAPPY 4th OF JULY! |
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| This is Rachel and we matched on Sunday! (: |
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| Hiking! |
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| Boulder climbin! |
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| The Loertchers! Our Senior Couple! They are headed home today..... ): |
July 14, 2014 (7 Month Mark!)
Hey my favorite people!
So this last week has been kind of a blur... so bare with me... hahaha Sometimes I forget what has happened because so much seems to happen in a week!
We have started teaching a family whose daughter/sister was murder about 8 years or so ago. It has been really hard to teach them because they have so many questions and doubts, but I know that as Sister Trias and I study really hard for them and then go by the promptings we receive from the Holy Ghost we will know how to help them overcome this awful trial in their lives. Being able to teach people who have gone through SO much is such a humbling experience for me. I am always grateful for the chances that I get to help them through the gospel! We are still seeing S. Cronan (the 94 year old lady). She is so cute! She is so stinkin stubborn and sometimes I just don't quite know how to help her... You can't ever disagree with her because she will fight you to the very end. hahaha Right now her issue is with her oxygen... She is at like level 5, but she wants it higher... She always says that she isn't even getting any oxygen so when we visit her we always find the oxygen tube in your mouth... hahahaha I love her so much! She lets us take her outside now in the wheel chair. We love doing that because she is finally able to get out of her room and into the fresh air. She figured out recently that she can push herself in the wheel chair and she loves it! She had the biggest grin on her face! We have been having a hard time seeing some of our investigators... So we are working on trying to get in contact with them and see what is going on and how we can help them better! Things with Elizabeth are going so great! She is so amazing!!! She really is the most prepared person I have ever met! We got to teach her for the first time on Friday. She told us that when she lived in Las Vegas she was introduced to the gospel by a friend. That friend invited her and her husband to Stake Conference and then to watch General Conference with them. Ever since then she has been on to lds.org, reading from the Book of Mormon, and reading from other resources. She has been researching and studying the gospel for herself for about 5 years. While doing this she already came to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. She knows SO much already! She told us that she knows about Temples and that we perform sacred ordinances in the Temple!! That is always a harder topic to talk to people about because they are skeptical sometimes. But not Elizabeth! She is so prepared it is unreal! She said the thing that has made her know this is true and to find so much peace has been because of the Plan of Salvation! She wants to raise their future children in the gospel! Her husband isn't very interested right now, but he is SO supportive! He even promised that he would read the Book of Mormon to there children every night!!!!!!!!! When she said that it just gave me chills. I know that he will come to know for himself that this gospel is true, just in his own time! I feel SO blessed to have the opportunity to teach Elizabeth! We were able to put her on date to be baptized for July 27th and she accepted! She was so excited about that date! She told us yesterday that the 27th is so close, yet not soon enough! She is so great!
So that was basically my week! I mean lots of other things happened, but I can't really remember everything right now! hahaha Shoot! I hope that everyone starts to feel better soon and that no one else gets sick!! I will be honest.... I am sad that I can't be at the family reunions, but I know that I am needed here more right now! Even though I miss you people like crazy, there is no where else I would rather be than in Hightstown, New Jersey right now!! (: I hope you guys have a great week! Random fact... I WILL HAVE BEEN OUT FOR 7 MONTHS ON FRIDAY... So crazy!!!
I LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON & BACK!! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister Woodland
July 7, 2014 (Miracles.)
Hey Fam.
It sounds like you guys had a great 4th of July! Except for Mal... :( I hope she felt good enough to at least go to the park!! Man... that is not fun at all! I hate being sick!! I will be honest... I was definitely missing the 4th of July at home, but Sister Trias and I made the best of it! (: We weren't able to do much, but I guess that is to be expected as a missionary! We aren't here to party! hahaha At least not all of the time... (; But it was a stressful couple of days before the 4th... Everything kept going back and forth because we now have our new mission president and he is still learning the rules of things and figuring out how he wants to run things. So, on Thursday night we were told that we could not do anything on the 4th unless it was with one of our investigators or a member. That was really stressful trying to find someone last minute. We weren't able to, but luckily we were allowed to watch fireworks with part of our zone if we absolutely couldn't find a member or investigator! So we did get to see the fireworks in South Brunswick and they were really good and I was really grateful we got to see them! I think Sister Trias thinks I am crazy... hahahaha I basically wore all of my 4th of July things that day... I mean come on people, it is my fav holiday! (: So it turned out to be a fun day! Definitely different from what I am used to, but I still loved it! (: I will send some pics so ya'll can see how crazy I looked... hahaha Anywho, moving on past the 4th of July... WE FOUND 5 NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK. WOW. Seriously... I am still not sure if it is real... We now have 9 investigators! This area hasn't seen that many investigators for like 2 years!!! I am so excited to teach them all and to be so busy! It is definitely more fun being a missionary when you have people to teach! Don't get me wrong, knocking doors and contacting people on the streets is always a good time, but I love having set appointments with people! It makes planning and the week go by smoother and a lot quicker! The Lord is definitely blessing Sister Trias and I! The people we are teaching are from all over the world! We are teaching a family from Haiti! We are teaching a family from Ghana! They are seriously from all over! We are only teaching one white lady! I was thinking about the people I have taught on my mission and I have only taught 3 white people including this lady! Isn't that crazy! President Jeppson always told us that we are serving in the best mission in the entire world because we teach people from all over the world! He said that there is no other mission that deals so much with different ethnicities than we do and that is what makes this mission so unique. We teach people and help them go through the conversion process and then they usually go back home to wherever they were born and share the gospel there with their families and friends! So what I am trying to say is, YES, i am serving a foreign mission! LOTS OF THEM! (: There are 2 really cool things that I wanted to share with you about this last week! The first one is that we were sitting in sacrament meeting and I was sitting next to one of the young women in our ward who will come out with us every now and then, but she leaned over to me and said, "Sister Woodland, you should bear your testimony!" So I leaned over to here and said Okay, I will if you bear yours after! So she agreed! I don't think she fully understood that as missionaries that is ALL we do, bear testimony! EVERYDAY, ALL DAY! hahaha She made the deal with the wrong person... hahaha But I got up and while I was waiting to go to the pulpit I was trying to think about what I wanted to share... I decided that I wouldn't stress about it, but that I would let the spirit tell me what I should share. So as I stood at the pulpit I had a very strong impression to talk about Mom being diagnosed with cancer and how like Ether 12:27 says, we were able to make that weakness become a strength. After the meeting was over another young women in our ward came up to me in tears. She told me that her best friend's mom had just died that morning from cancer and she wanted to know how she could help her friend during this hard time. It was a very humbling experience for me to have the opportunity to talk to this young women about how she could go about helping her best friend right now. It also really strengthened my testimony that there is ALWAYS a reason we are prompted to do things and that we should never ignore those promptings because we don't know who might really need it! The next thing I wanted to tell you was that there was this lady who came to church and she looked just like another member of the church, just maybe in town because of the holiday! In Relief Society she introduced herself and said that she had just moved her from Boston and that she was going through the conversion process. So Sister Trias and I thought that she was one of the elders investigators. Later that Sunday Elder Ayers and Elder Penrod called us and told us that this lady was in our area! They said that she has had some of the missionary discussions and that she wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She hadn't even met any of the missionaries in New Jersey yet, she isn't a member, and she just moved here, yet she came to church all by herself!! I seriously just kept thinking this is not real... Something has to be up. So we called her to set up an appointment and it is all true!!! She wanted to wait until she moved to New Jersey because she knew that she was moving and is wanted to be baptized in the ward that she will be in!!!!!!!! She has been being prepared for a long time! And now Sister Trias and I get the opportunity to teach her the lessons! I still cannot even believe it, but this just goes to show that the missionaries don't really do anything! Yes we get to teach these incredible people and help them along the conversion process, but the real teacher is the Holy Ghost and He is the one who converts these amazing people! I am just so excited and so grateful for the opportunity we have to teach her! She was really excited that sisters will be teaching her! (: Anyway, those were the two miracles that I wanted to share this week!
I just wanted to share "The Creed of The Unashamed" by President Eyring because it has helped me to stay motivated and to keep going forward with faith even when times get hard!! It says, "I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience. I am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few. My guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear." I LOVE THIS!
I hope that you have a great week this week! Thanks again for everything you do for me!!! Yous are the bestest!
LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON & BACK!!! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister Woodland
June 30, 2014 (Happy 4th of July Peeps.)
Hey Fam.
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!
Can you
believe the 4th of July is this week?! Man... I love the 4th of July SO
much!!! I really hope we get to do something that day. They used to
be able to go somewhere and watch the fireworks as a zone, but things might
change because President Taggart is now in charge, so who knows! I REALLY hope
he lets us watch the fireworks though... That would be so great!
This last week was a good week! Even though three of our
investigators dropped us... It is always really hard when people decide they
don't want to learn anymore and that they are content with the lives that they
are living, but I also know that we were able to plant seeds with them and
hopefully they will accept the gospel later on down the road! We had a really
great lesson with Stephon though! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he
had SO many great questions! It made him think about the life he is living and
things that he should improve on! He told us that he wants to raise a family
the right way... So he was really interested in being able to live with his
family for time and all eternity! We invited him to be baptized on August 3rd
and he said YES. Sister Trias and I were so excited! He is still struggling to
understand things for himself, but I know that overtime he will be able to
receive the answers he is looking for and come to know for himself that this is
the true church once again restored to the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith!
We are still working on finding more people to teach. We have some referrals to
contact this week so hopefully they will go well! (:
It has been so cool because for the first time in my mission I
have actually started to look forward to studies. I never really hated studying
in the morning, but I never looked forward to them or really wanted to do them.
Now, I cannot wait to study and to learn more. It helps me feel more relaxed
and it helps me to be prepared for the day ahead of us! I have an extra hour to
study now because Sister Trias has to do an extra hour of language study. I
love having that extra hour! I have been out now for over 6 months and I
FINALLY feel like I am really enjoying what I do. Not having to force myself to
love going out and contacting people or going to see people all day long, but
actually loving sharing the gospel with my brothers and sisters here. I have
been praying everyday to love these people as Jesus Christ loves them and I
have been able to see a complete change in myself. I am starting to understand
what people mean when they say that they truly love their missions and when
their missions actually become apart of their lives not just a routine that
they have to do. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. (:
I am glad that you guys are doing so great! It is always good to
hear that things are going well back home! I miss your faces like crazy, but I
know I need to be here right now! (: I love being here! (: I hope you guys have
a great 4th of July!!! Have fun walking in the parade! (: Do something crazy
for me, would ya?! hahaha Have a great week ya'll!
LOVE YOUS TO
THE MOON & BACK!!! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister
Woodland
June 24, 2014 (I'm Alive.)
Hey Fam.
Sorry I wasn't able to email yesterday morning! We didn't really
end up having a P-Day for very long because we have been SO stinkin busy with
transfer stuff! Sister Holyoak is being transferred and I am going to miss her
like crazy!!! I have loved being companions with her, but I also know that it
is time for her to go to another area! She has been in this area for about 7
and a half months! Time for change I guess!! That happens frequently on the
mish! BUT it always turns out to be really good! So I am excited/nervous to
find out who my new companion will be! I know she will be great though! So you
will all find out more about her next monday!
This last week has definitely been a crazy week, but a great week
as well!! Sister Holyoak and I had set a goal when we were struggling so much
with having 0 investigators, that by the end of the transfer we would have 6
new investigators! Well fam, WE HAVE 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!!! Can you believe
it?! I am not sure I can believe it yet! We received 3 new investigators last
week and it was seriously a miracle! We still don't know them all very well,
but I am excited to get to know them better and to really start teaching them.
I know that my Heavenly Father is always going to help me out as Iong as I do
my part! So I don't have much to tell you about them yet because I still need
to get to know them! (: So more to come on that next Monday! We have been
seeing a lot of members because Sister Holyoak wants to say goodbye to them
before she leaves! I really love the members of our Ward. They are so great and
they help out with missionary work so much! I appreciate all that they do for
all of us missionaries!
Well, I know I don't have a ton to tell you this week... I will
hopefully have lots more to tell you next week! I think I am losing my mind
because of everything that is going on right now! hahaha I seriously can't even
think clearly right now! Transfers are just really stressful no matter what...
even if you aren't leaving! hahah Especially this transfer because a lot of
missionaries are leaving and Sister Jeppson and President Jeppson are leaving
as well! I guess President Taggart and Sister Taggart are not going to be at
this transfer conference. They are not coming into the mission until the 27th!
So we will be having interviews with him soon after that! I am excited to meet
him and his family! I know that it is going to be a hard transition, but I am
excited to see how things work out! I am going to miss President Jeppson and
Sister Jeppson SOOOO much though! I have learned so much from them and I love
them both so much! They are seriously so incredible and I feel so blessed to
have had the opportunity to have served with them for the 6 months that I got
to! (:
I hope that you guys have a great week! (: I am so thankful for
you guys and for all that you do for me! I know I say this all the time, but I
really do feel so blessed that I have been placed in out family! (: YOUS ARE
THE BESTEST! (:
I LOVE YOUS
TO THE MOON & BACK!!! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister
Woodland
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