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
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