October 13, 2014 (Pictures)

Me and my comp!

IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL!

October 13, 2014 (Life in New York!)

Hi Ya'll.

     So this week was a little bit crazy! So much was going on this week. On Wednesday and Thursday Sister Rigby had to go to Specialized Training which is for the new missionaries and because we had the switch with mission presidents they haven't had this meeting in a while. So I got to go on exchanges with Sister Page and Sister Mendoza. It was way fun to be back with Sister Page for a little bit! It was cool for both of us to see how much we have grown over time. It was good to catch up! She goes home in 2 weeks! SO WEIRD. I feel like all of the missionaries that I have served around my whole mission so far are all going home! It is so crazy. Anyway, so I wasn't able to be in my area for those two days...which was a bummer, but what can you do! We did get to watch MEET THE MORMONS! It was seriously SUCH a good movie! I loved it! I especially loved the "Candy Bomber"!!! Aww man I just love that sweet little old man! He is so amazing! I think everyone should take the time to go see that movie! It is so great and it really shows people who we, as Latter-day Saints really are! It knocks all of the misconceptions that people have about Mormons! GO SEE IT IF YOU HAVEN'T! (: 

     We were able to find 2 new investigators this week! They are both Haitian! There is seriously such a HUGE Haitian population over here! They are both really awesome and I am excited to work with them! We are going to be working a lot with Isaiah this week! Our Bishop is pushing us to have him baptized on October 26th. We have tried to talk with him about this being a little too soon. He mostly wants to do it then so they can have a "linger longer" after the baptism... It has been a little stressful, but a lot of the ward members are working with us to help make sure he is ready to be baptized then and then if it isn't to back us up if we need to push the date back! The cool thing about the whole situation though is that we will be meeting with his WHOLE FAMILY! His parents agreed to let us teach all of them this week! I am way excited about it! They seem like such an incredible family who have strong religious beliefs in the Savior and His teachings! It would be so amazing to see this whole family accept the gospel! The Lord definitely places miracles in our paths every single day! We just have to have the faith to act on the promptings the Lord gives us so that the miracles can take place. Other than that not too much new has happened this week! It has been a little bit slower due to the meetings and Sister Rigby and I getting sick! But we are both on the uphill and we are feeling TONS better! Which is soooo good! We finally had to just take a break yesterday. Our bodies were killing us and we knew that if we didn't take a little time for ourselves we were not going to get better! It was a good idea because we feel so much better now! This next week is going to be soooooooooooooo busy! Seriously we have so much to do and we have so many people to teach! I am so excited to work hard and see the many miracles that will happen this upcoming week! 

     Sorry for the short email this week! I hope yous have a great week as well! Thanks for all the emails and mail! BEST. FAMILY. EVER. (: 

     LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON & BACK!!! WE GOT THIS! 

Love, Sister Woodland

October 6, 2014 (Miracles.)

heeeeeeeey.

     This week was seriously a week FULL of miracles. They were just coming at us left and right. 

We were able to visit Sister M this week who is a less active. She had served a mission, but life pulled her away from the gospel for a while. She really wants to come back, especially for her kids. She has 4 little kids and they are adorable. Her oldest daughter is 8 years old and the Bishop has asked us to really work with this family so the oldest daughter can be baptized. So we were able to get over to their home last Tuesday and we watched the Restoration DVD with them. It was really cool because you could tell that from watching the DVD Sister M was reminded of her simple testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It just reminds me of what we were told in General Conference, that we need to remember the simple parts of the gospel. Those are the things that are going to keep us going forward in our progression in the church. The small and simple things are what count! So we will be working with Sister M's oldest daughter now to get her ready for baptism! She is so excited! 

On Wednesday we were walkin through Haverstraw trying some potential investigators and some investigators. One of the ladies we were going to try was sleeping when we stopped by so we decided that we could grab something to eat really quick. We started to walk down the street to the Empanada's shop when this guy who was walking towards us asked if we were "Mormon". We stopped and told him we were and we starting to talk with him. His name is Juan and he was baptized about 6 years ago. He told us quickly that he wants to come back to church and that he knows that the "Mormon Church" is the right place to me in. He seemed a little bit drunk, but he was such a sweet guy! It was his Birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to him right there on the streets of Haverstraw New York. It was so sweet! He told us that we made his entire day. I don't think he has any family so I was glad we could make him feel loved! He lived in the Bronks for a while and so he has some pretty crazy stories, but through everything that he has been through he has remember to keep having faith in Jesus Christ. It was seriously such a miracle that we were able to be in the same place and the same time so we could find him! The elders will actually be teaching him now, but we are excited for him to start coming back to church! 

I GOT TO GO BACK TO ELLIS ISLAND! I was super excited to find out that we are close enough here to have that opportunity! It was a lot of fun to help people again. I love going to Ellis Island and learning about the history behind it all. There were a ton of people that were so grateful for the help the received in finding their own ancestors! Seriously! Sister Rigby is INCREDIBLE at using the site there and she made so many people’s days! Especially this once group of people. They were looking for their Nana and they couldn't find her and nobody was really taking the time to really help them. So Sister Rigby sat down with them and searched for a while and actually find their Nana!! It was really cool! They asked who we were and we let them know that we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and one of the ladies said, "I love Mormons!" hahaha It was awesome! She said that we had made their day and they just love "the Mormons". It is cool to be able to serve people and represent the Savior in all that we do!

On Sunday we were able to pick up an investigator named Isaiah. He is 12 years old and he is seriously the best! One of his older sister's was baptized about a year ago and he said that he saw a change in her and it made him want that change. His older sister isn't very active right now, but I think that when he gets baptized he will help set that example for her and help her to come back. The rest of their family are not members and we are going to try to work with the whole family! But we taught Isaiah the first lesson between the Sunday Sessions of General Conference. He is kinda shy and actually reminds me a little of Bryce. We started to talk about the Atonement with him and he started to cry. I asked him what he was feeling. He told us that it is just so sad that Jesus had to go through all of that. He told us that Jesus Christ is his HERO. Can you believe that? It seriously broke my heart into a million pieces. I started to cry right along with him. It was such a testimony builder to me that anyone of us can have a deep love and testimony for the Atonement and for our Savior Jesus Christ. Isaiah has such a tender heart. We asked him why he likes coming to church and why he likes the gospel so much and he told us, "because this is my second family". I seriously was a complete mess through that whole lesson. The spirit there was SO strong. I just know that Isaiah is going to bless so many people’s lives with his sweet personality and the testimony that he already has of the gospel. I am SO excited to teach him and hopefully the rest of his family.

     So lots of miracles happened this week. I feel so blessed to be in this area at this time! I am grateful to be a part of this great work! General Conference was AMAZING. I just love watching General Conference, especially on my mission. I was able to receive so much revelation for myself and for this area! I am so thankful that we have a modern day prophet who leads and guides us today! President Monson is an amazing man and I am grateful for his example. You should definitely send me the Conference Ensign again when it comes out! (:  I am glad things are going well back home! Thanks for everything and for all the love and support! You guys are seriously the best ever!!! I hope that you have another great week!

LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON & BACK!! WE GOT THIS! 

Love, Sister Woodland

September 29, 2014 (Partying in New York.)

hi hi hi,

     Sounds like it was a busy week for everyone! DAD'S BISHOP. AHHHHHHHH! hahahaha Man. That is so crazy! I am so excited for him! He is going to be amazing! He is going to rock it! (: Lots and lots of changes happenin! CRAZY. Can you believe it is almost October...? Time is just flyin by! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL here. There are sooooo many trees here and they are starting to change colors. I love it. I just love the Fall sooo much! Definitely my favorite season! I am excited to be here while the seasons are changing! Something I have been learning since I have been in this area for the short time that I have been is people here are weirdly nice... I have gotten used to people yelling at us, swearing at us, slamming the door in our faces, but not in the New City Area. At first when we would knock on doors I would prepare myself to be rejected, but people just don't seem to do that here. It blows my mind. So I don't quite know how to act always. I feel like I am just speechless all of the time. Like just the other day we went to the gas station to fill up our car with gas... WHICH BY THE WAY I GET TO PUMP MY OWN GAS NOW!! I don't know if I ever told you or not, but in Jersey you are not allowed to pump your own gas. They have people that do it for you.... So I haven't pumped my own gas for 9 months! And I finally did just the other day.... and I kinda forgot how to do it... hahahaha

So that is me pumpin the gas! FINALLY. Who thought I would be so excited to pump gas.... (;

But after we were done the machine didn't print out a receipt and we need one so (a little frustrated) we went inside to ask the cashier if we could get a receipt. She was a Hispanic lady who all of a sudden got really excited to see us. She began telling us that her family met with missionaries just like us, but in her country and that they wanted to come back to church. She asked if we could write our number on receipt paper and the church's address. Both Sister Rigby and I really didn't say much... this lady contacted us and asked us for all the information. It was crazy! It is soooo cool to see how Heavenly Father works. He knew that we needed to go inside and talk with the cashier so her and her family can come back to church. And that is why we didn't get a printed receipt! Miracles. Then one day we were trying to find a Less Active, but the address we had for them didn't have an apartment number and it was at an apartment complex so we decided we should knock some doors and see if anyone knows them. We knocked quite a few doors and nobody knew the members we were looking for and we were about to go back to the car when we decided to try one last door. A lady answered and said that she didn't know anyone by that name, but that we could go to the office and they could look it up for us. So we went to the office and this younger lady helped us. The Less Actives don't live in that apartment complex anymore, but we were able to start talking with this lady. She was so nice and by the end of our conversation said that we could come over to her home and teach her more. If we wouldn't have knocked on those apartment doors and tried that one last door we would never have found this lady! Such a miracle. We were able to pick up this sweet Haitian lady this last week. She was a member referral and we invited her to be baptized in our first lesson with her and she said YES. We are so stinkin excited to teach her and her family! Haitian people are so stinkin awesome! I am going to have to learn some Creole or French though because there are a ton of people in this area from Haiti. For instance, we had received a referral for this lady and we went to try her and she didn't speak any English. Just Creole... So we couldn't really communicate with her. We are going to bring a member with us next time that can speak Creole or French so they can interpret for us! So it has definitely been a good week! I just wanted to tell yous a funny story that happened to us this last week. So in part of our area there is a HUGE Jewish population. We were going to take a short cut to a member’s house through this Jewish Apartment Complex on Friday night. Their Sabbath starts on Friday nights and goes until Saturday night. Anyway, so we turn to go in and there are a bunch of Jewish kids and teenagers standing by like a fence that they put up so no one can use that short cut on their Sabbath because they don't drive at all during their Sabbath... All the Jewish kids and teenagers started to shew us!!!!!! They literally yelled at us and told us to go away.... hahahaha It was a little terrifying! Sister Rigby was driving and I just put my head down and laughed sooooo hard. We got out of there as fast as we could. So for future reference, don't drive through a Jewish apartment complex during their Sabbath. 

     Well fam. I am so thankful for all of you and for your love, support, and examples to me! You help keep me going! I hope that you all have a great week this upcoming week and I hope you enjoy General Conference!!! I am sooooooo excited for it! (: Also, send me mail. My address is 249 N. Middletown Rd. Apt. 4A Nanuet, NY 10954. YOUS ARE THE BEST. Get Mal to send some of her Senior Pics pleaaaase. And while you are at it you can send some pics of everyone... I would love it! (: 

LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON AND BACK!! WE GOT THIS!!!

Love, Sister Woodland

Look how stinking beautiful it is here! 

The leaves are starting to change!!! AHHHH