March 23, 2015 (It SNOWED on the first day of Spring...)

Heeeeeey.

     Alright... Another week gone. So crazy!! I am glad that everyone is doing pretty good! That is so sad that G-ma'a sister passed away. So grateful for the Plan of Salvation and knowing that she is in a WAY better place. (: That is nice of mom to go with Aunt Cindy and G-ma to the funeral! I am glad to hear that Grandma Woodland is adjusting well to her new place and that everything is going pretty good! Life is so stinking crazy sometimes! 

     So I am going to do the "list" thing again because it helps my brain stay somewhat organized so I can try to remember what in the world happened last week...(:

1.       We had two exchanges this week. I am so exhausted now because of them... hahaha The first one went pretty good! I got to stay in my area on Tuesday to Wednesday and it felt soooo good to sleep in my own bed! Sometimes I miss my bed... hahaha Then we went on another exchange on Friday to Saturday. It was a little bit rough. One of the sisters is really struggling with different things and her companion knows that they need to be doing things differently so we ended up calling President and she talked to him for a while. He gave her some great advice on how she can help her companion. With the craziness of everything that happened during this exchange it made me so grateful for priesthood leaders. President Taggart is a very inspired man and he was able to help the sister I was on exchange with really understand the situation and know what to do next. I was grateful to be on this exchange and I hope that this sweet sister knows how much we love her and how incredible of a missionary she and her companion are. Once they figure things out I know they are going to have a great last 3 weeks of this transfer together! 

2.       IT SNOWED. I just want all of you to know that it flipping snowed on the FIRST DAY OF SPRING. Oh my goodness. Sister Pexton and I were both so upset about it... hahaha It just doesn't want to get warm over here. Luckily the snow hasn't really stayed on the ground and it has been melting pretty quickly... I just reeaaaaalllly hope it doesn't snow anymore. I think we have gotten our fair share of it over here on the East Coast. 

3.       We had to go get the oil in our car changed this week and it just wasn't working out how we wanted it to... But we were able to FINALLY go in to get it done on Wednesday night. We were sitting in the waiting area and this couple kept looking at us. Finally the guy turned to us and asked us if we were nuns! hahaha I love being asked that! We were able to start talking to them and let them know that we are not nuns, but sister missionaries. They asked what church we were from and the moment we told them "Mormon" they asked us if we were polygamists... haha I told them that I am definitely not going to share my husband with other women. We got to help clear up some misconceptions that they had about the church. They were an awesome couple and THEY WERE ACTUALLY MARRIED. They doesn't happen very often over here... haha They said that they would love to learn more and so we are going to go over to their home next Sunday! It was cool to see that God really is in the details of this work and that when things don't work out the way WE want them too there is always a reason for it. I was so grateful God placed us in their path! 

4.       The last thing is that we stopped by our church on Saturday night and the Stake was having Youth Conference. I got to see a lot of people from the Princeton 2nd Ward! It was sooo good to see some of them! It just made me even more excited to see them all for Stake Conference soon! I feel so blessed to have served in the areas I have and with the companions I have been with! I feel like I have been so lucky on my mission! (:

​

Alright well that is all I can remember about this last week. I hope that yous have another great week! Thanks for everything you do for me! YOUS DA BEST. 

Love, Sister Woodland

March 16, 2015 (Pictures)

We were stuck outside in the freezing cold waiting for our investigators to get home...

These are my crazy Zone Leaders

Exchanges!

Peiyu taped my name tag to his stomach... hahaha

Just tryin to make dumplings

March 16, 2015 (Dumplings)

WHAT'S UP.

     So things are goin great! Once again it was another quick week... haha I feel like the rest of my weeks are going to be "quick weeks". They seriously just seem to go by soooooo quickly. Monday's roll around and I can't even remembered what happened throughout the week. There is so much to do in a day. Okay... I am going to try and think reeeaalllly hard about what has happened since last Monday... 

1. Okay so I am going to make a list this week... haha So first, Sister Pexton and I had to give a training in our Zone Meeting on Tuesday about Companion Unity. We decided to get a little crazy because we are trying to pump the missionaries up about missionary work. So we went out and bought these super cheap camo shirts at Walmart. We were wearing normal clothes at the beginning of our meeting, but when it was our turn to give our training we ran out and changed into these shirts. So it was fun. hahaha I think the other missionaries got a good kick out of it. Our mission president and his wife really want each companionship in the mission to love each other... so hopefully they will all want to be unified because we wore camo...(; Plus I just really love camo!

​

1. Next. I went on my first exchange this week in Princeton! It was fun to go there especially since I had been there SO many times when I was serving in Hightstown! Hopefully the exchange went well... (: haha I sure learned SO much from the sister I got to go on exchange with. She is an incredible missionary! Also... Sister Hindman is one of the Sisters we cover!! I am super excited to serve around her again. I loved being companions with her! I feel like all of these exchanges are going to make the transfers go by even faster... So this could get crazy. Also they make you extremely tired... hahahaha I love it! (:
2. We got to teach Cody this week about the Restoration. It was soooooo good. (: He is so stinkin quiet though... I feel like we can never get him to talk. So we are trying to work on getting him more engaged in the lessons when we teach. It is also really hard because there is this random guy that is ALWAYS at his home with him and his mother... And the mom says that this guy is just a friend, but he is not a good influence at all. So we are a little worried what might happen because of this guy always being around. We are going to try to get Cody and his mom to members home to teach them there so that we can have the spirit there to teach him. We were able to invite him to be baptized on April 12th and he said YES! He knows that he needs to make a change in his life and he wants to know that this is true. We are going to have to meet with him 3 times a week to get all of the lessons in, but I feel like seeing them three times a week will be really good for both Cody and his mom. We are so excited for Cody! (:
3. Alright... Last thing I wanted to tell yous this week was that I learned how to make Chinese dumplings at some of our investigators house. The mother invited us over and told us that she would teach us how to make them. They turned out to be a lot harder to make than we thought they would be... hahaha IT TOOK FOREVER TO MAKE THEM. Then while we were making them, as we were rolling out the dough we kept finding BUGS in the flipping dough... hahaha I was like...uuhhhh... I think this is a bug... haha But we couldn't just not eat all of the dumplings that she made us... All I kept thinking of while we were eating them was how many bugs I was actually eating. SO GROSS. Then last night I woke up and I did not feel good at all. I got sooo sick in the middle of the night. I threw up everything that I had eaten yesterday. It was super fun. I even told Sister Pexton that it would be so funny if we got food poisoning from the dumplings... And I did....But it wasn't funny at all. haha I felt like I was going to die, but I feel a lot better this morning just a little weak. But I think I threw up so much that I just got it all out of my system and now I am good! (: 

So that basically sums up my week. (: I am glad that things are still going good back home! I will keep everyone in my prayers! Also... I am super jealous that I won't be able to go to the Payson Temple Open House... But I am so excited to go to that Temple when I get home! Yay! (: Thanks for everything you guys do for me every day! I really appreciate it sooooooooo much!!! I hope that you guys have another great week! (:

Love, Sister Woodland

p.s. I want it to be 70 degrees here.... -_-

March 9, 2015 (Pictures)

So let's talk about these photos.... After Transfer conference was over we were moving my stuff into our new car and in the process of us moving things to different cars someone put a DEAD DUCK in our car.... It had to have been one of the elders... But we still haven't been able to figure out who it was... hahahah Good thing I am not afraid of holding dead ducks or that could have been even crazier! (; haha I think someone new had been duck hunting so they were pulling some crazy prank. So I just moved the duck out of the car and then finally out of the way so it didn't get run over. hahaha 

MURRAY SISTERS.

March 9, 2015 (I have a Murray companion! What in the world.)

Hey My Peeps.

     Okay so this last week has seriously been a complete blur... So let's just try to start from the beginning. I am now serving in East Brunswick New Jersey and I already love this area. I feel like the area is a little bit like Hightstown was, but it has some reaaalllly crazy people here so I will fit in. I AM IN THE SAME STAKE AS THE PRINCETON 2ND WARD SO IMMA GET TO SEE ALL OF MY HIGHTSTOWN PEOPLE FROM THERE. Oh my goodness sakes alive. I am so excited about it. Plus I am going on an exchange this weekend to Princeton so I am seriously calling Sister McCready to see what she is doing so I can maybe see her... I am like 30 minutes away from them...  I AM SO HAPPY TO BE HERE. (: My new companion is Sister Pexton and she is from MURRAY! What?! Yea... we are the only two missionaries in this whole mission that are from Murray, Utah. SO COOL. We both went to Murray High School together. She is just a grade younger than me. We did know each other before the mission, but we didn't hang out and stuff. We have ALWAYS wanted to be companions and now we finally are! We get along great! We have like the nicest apartment in the whole mission! It is two levels and it is seriously beautiful. hahaha I feel so spoiled. We also have A WASHER AND A DRYER IN THE APARTMENT. I have never been so grateful to not have to pay for laundry in my entire life. Now we'll never have bed bugs because I will always be washing everything! hahahaha HALLELUJAH!  

     I am still trying to figure out how to be a Sister Training Leader... haha It might be a slow process for me, but hopefully it will come one day... (; We had soooo many meetings this last week. I feel like that was basically ALL we did. I was able to meet all of our investigators though this week. We are working with about 5 investigators and we are also trying to find more to teach. We picked up an 18 year old boy last night though! His mom is a less active member. So it is a part member family. Those are my favorite! (: The mom and son have both had drug addictions and have gone through so much. The son is trying to find God and wants to learn about the church because he saw a change in his mom when she joined the church. We invited him to be baptized last night and he said that when he comes to know that these things are true for himself he will be!!! MIRACLES. So incredible. That is what the gospel is all about. It is there to help each one of us change and become the people that God knows we can become! He only wants the best for us. (: We are also teaching this super adorable family from China. It is hard to teach the mother though because she has a really hard time understanding. But thank goodness because the elders in our ward have a recent convert who is from HONG KONG!!! Can you believe that! That is where you served your mission Dad! I get to meet this recent convert tonight because she is coming out with us so she can translate for our investigators! Serving in this mission is so much fun because we get to teach people from all over the world! I honestly feel like I have visited the world on my mission... hahaha From like Mexico to The Dominican Republic to Haiti and now to China! I love it so much!! So that was basically what happened this week. It is always an adjustment to go to a new area, but I feel like I am adjusting fairly well! (: 

     I am glad that things are going well back home! Thanks for taking care of my housing situation! That takes a lot of stress off of my shoulders! Just let me know about the whole signing up for classes situation and when that is supposed to start. I honestly never thought that I would get to the point in my mission that I would ever have to start to even think about going home and what I was going to do when I get home. It all sorta stresses me out sometimes. haha It just blows my mind how fast this time is going. Good thing I don't have to have EVERYTHING figured out. (: That is too much for my little brain to handle. hahahahahahaha I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for everything that I have learned on my mission so far. This has definitely been a life changing experience. I'll be honest though. I can't wait to hug you people though! hahaha It is so weird... I sometimes dream that I am hugging all y'all at the airport....awkward...(; hahah One day it will happen! Well I hope that you guys have another great week! Send me some mail....

​ 

MY NEW ADDRESS IS: 298 Cozzens Court East Brunswick NJ, 08816

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

Love, Sister Woodland

March 2, 2015 (Pictures)

My district this transfer

We got some cold stone!!! Yum.

Just freezin our bums off by the Hudson river

This is Sister Kreppelt. She is the best!!

This is how close we are to the Washington bridge

March 2, 2015 (So many changes... so many emotions...)

Hello family~

     Holy smokes... well first things first. I am glad that things are going well back home. That is so awesome that Mallory loved Rexburg! It is such a great little place. (: everyone really is growing up so stinking fast. it still blows my mind that Megan will be graduated from college soon and that mal will be graduated from high school soon and that Bryce man will have his driver’s license and BE ABLE TO DATE. you are all going to be so weird when I come home... (; hahahahahaha I can't wait to see you people in 18 WEEKS. wow. time is honestly going to go by so stinking fast these last three transfers. it really just makes me soooooooooooooooooooooooo nervous. I know I need to kind of start figuring things out though... so I will start working on that...

     So I am officially being transferred! Sister Robinson got called to train a new missionary last Thursday night so I pretty much knew that I was going to be getting transferred this time. It has been soooooooooo emotional for me... hahaha I feel like it just keeps getting harder and harder for me to leave an area!! I have just been cryin my little eyes out this whole weekend! We have been going to see a lot of the members and my recent converts so I could say goodbye and it has been so hard for me. I think the hardest one for me though was Isaiah. I cried so hard... and to make it all worse he cried really hard too... :( aaaahhh... I was a mess. I just love that little boy so much and I want the absolute best for him. I am just going to miss this crazy area sooo much! I have honestly just fallen in love with New York. Missionary life is hard on the heart... hahaha 

     I got called last night to be a sister training leader... I am soooooooo nervous about it, but I know that God will help me. It is a good thing too because I couldn't do this without him. So things are going to be changing completely for me this next transfer! Ready or not, here we go!! Like I said last week... it is a good thing that faith is the first principle of the gospel because I have no choice, but to go forward with faith now. I am excited for the opportunity this will give me to grow and become a better daughter of God. I hope that I can help out the incredible sisters that I will be over. Man... mission life is crazy sometimes... hahaha 

We were just a little in shock.... hahaha

​ 

    Sorry I don't have much else to say this week... my mind is all over the place. I will email you a better email next week and let you know where I am, who my companion is, and how everything is going! Thanks for all of the love and support! It really means the world to me!!! (:

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

Love, Sister Woodland