June 16, 2014 (Pictures)

Temple Trip!

 

Street Meat! (P.S. I didn't get sick!!!)

NEWARK BABY!

Just by the way we saved a turtle!!! 

June 16, 2014 (Busy Week.)

Hey Fam.

     This week was crazy! We had so much to do and seriously like no time to do it all! 

     So we were able to go to the Manhattan Temple on Tuesday and it was definitely an adventure! We drove into Newark and all met at the church there. We then walked to the train station and we took like 4 different trains... It turned out to be more trains than we really needed to take, but it all worked out! We got to ride the subway in New York and that was definitely nuts... People there are crazy and really loud! hahaha There is no such thing as personal space when you ride the subways or trains here... Definitely something I will never forget! We got to see some of the missionaries that serve in New York. The Temple there is beautiful! (: It is really cool to go inside the temple there because it is SO loud outside and then when you walk inside it is completely silent! Such an incredible feeling! I really needed to go to the temple and I feel so blessed that we were able to go and to feel of the spirit so strongly! Such a cool experience to be in the temple with 24 other missionaries! (: I can't wait to go again! Hopefully the new mission president doesn't change it! On that note... President Jeppson and Sister Jeppson go home on the 24th of June... So they have about a week left! SO SAD. The all mission conference was a ton of fun and it was so good to see all of the other missionaries! But it was so hard to know that that was the last thing we would be doing with President and Sister Jeppson! Everyone was crying and it was really emotional hearing from both of them! We will get to see them one more time at transfer conference, but President Taggart will be there as well so it won't be the same from that point on! I am so excited to meet President Taggart and to get to know him, it is just going to be sad not having the Jeppson's here anymore! I know though that President Taggart is going to do great things for this mission! We are still working on finding new investigators! The three that we have are going great! (: We are still working with them and it has been a lot of fun! We are really going to be focusing on finding more people to teach though because we still need more!! (: (: (: So things here are going great! We got an air condition put in our window in our bedroom so that has been fantastic! (: OH. By the way. Sister McCready (the members we live below) is coming to Utah to visit her children from like June 24th to the end of July and I think she is going to stop by and see you guys! She got your phone numbers and address from me! So that should be fun! (: Brother and Sister McCready are seriously the best and they take such good care of us! (Also, if there is anything we want to give me... you can give it to her and she will bring it back! (: What a great idea, right?? hahaha) 

     Anyway, things are going great! I am way excited to start this new week and to see the miracles that I know are going to happen! GO BIG OR GO HOME, right??? (and we definitely ain't going home!!) (: So be ready for some really exciting stories next Monday! I am so glad all of you are doing so well! I am so grateful for each of you and for all you do to support me and help me out here! It really means the world to me!!! 

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

Love, Sister Woodland

June 9, 2014 (I feel like I'm a Spanish Missionary!)

HEY FAM.

     So I don't have a lot of time this week.... Sorry!! We don't get a P-Day today because we are going to the Manhattan Temple tomorrow and it will take our entire day. So we are basically calling Tuesday our P-Day. But, I GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am soooooooooooo excited. I feel like I have been waiting for this day the entire time I have been on my mission... hahaha The missionaries used to get to walk through Time Square, but we aren't allowed to do that anymore! Some missionaries probably ruined it... Oh well! Next time! (: haha We will have time to get some "street meat" after the Temple... Doesn't that sound a little sketchy?! hahahaha I AM SO EXCITED TO TRY STREET MEAT. Really though. I hear it is SO good. Hopefully I won't get food poisoning! hahaha 

     Anywho, my week went pretty great! IT WENT BY SO FAST. We were so busy all of the time! I love when I am so busy that I don't have anytime to think about anything, but missionary work! It's the bestest. We haven't picked up any new investigators this week... Mostly because we cannot seem to find this guy that contacted the Elders... Weird. No worries though we will find him. Sometimes I feel like missionaries are a little bit stalkerish. Oh well. Gotta do what we gotta do. (: We had the opportunity to help out at a Latino Fair on Saturday and it was SO FUN! Our entire Zone helped out. One of the members from the spanish branch asked us if we could help out. His name is hermano cobos and his is so great! He is the reason we get to serve at the Food Bank every week! We got to paint faces! That is what some of the missionaries were in charge of! It was crazy! I got asked to paint SO many Ecuadorian Flags... Serioulsy though... like 30 or more! AND it is like the hardest Flag to paint on someone.... WAY to much detail! But I seemed to do it... hahaha I am starting to understand some spanish now too! I mean I am not good at all, but I can understand what people are saying for the most part! It is really cool! Who knew that I would actually start to learn a language on my mission! We helped out at this Fair for the entire day and we get free spanish food! I LOVE SPANISH FOOD. It is seriously my new weakness. And I am talking about the real spanish food. Not that fake American stuff! haha Anyway, It was a great week! Lots of fun and this week will be just as busy! We will go to the Temple tomorrow and then on Friday we will have our All Mission Conference where we get to go and play games and party with the whole mission! I AM SO EXCITED.

     I hope that all ya'll continue to have a great week! I am so grateful for each of you and for everything you guys do for me all the time! 

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

Love, Sister Woodland

June 2, 2014 (Singing Nuns!)

Hey peeps!

So this week I got a little bit homesick.... I think it is because it is finally starting to warm up and it is going to be summer real soon and I am missing just hangin with all ya'll in the summer!! BUT I am totally okay though so don't even worry about me, but just know that I love you all lots! (: Other than that I am so sorry that people back home are having a hard time! Man... Life is so rough sometimes! Trials and challenges will always remind me of 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." And boy ain't that the truth! I've learned that God really doesn't give us anything we can't handle, but we have to handle it with Faith. We have to do our part and turn to Heavenly Father and trust that He really does know best and that He really is going to help us. Once we do that things WILL get better, but we have to have the faith that it will!! I will keep everyone in my prayers! 

     So this week ended up turning out really good!!! It was a slower week at first, but then it just picked right up and the Lord was definitely blessing Sister Holyoak and I! I wanted to tell you about Sister Cronan real quick because I feel like you haven't heard about her for awhile... She is the 94 year old that we have been helping! Well she got put into like an Assisted Living Center!!!!! She does not want to be there and she is being a little bit stubborn with the nurses.... Before she was converted she was a member of a Christian-Science church and I guess they don't believe in medical things... They do things naturally with like herbs and stuff. So she is refusing all treatments! Which is rough because some things probably would be good for her! The other things though it is probably a smart idea that she isn't going to have the surgery because she is so old and fragile. We go and visit her at the Assisted Living Center and I LOVE IT! She is in a double room and we would always go and sing her some hymns and read to her from the Book of Mormon. We thought the other lady living with her was kinda rude until just the other day she like yelled at us to come into her room... I like slowly walked in, just waiting her to rip me a new one, but she just wanted to tell us how grateful she was that we came and sang hymns! She said that she had been praying for people like us and she wants us to sing in front of the whole Assisted Living Center... So that is probs what we are going to be doing once a week! She said we have the voices of angels... I think she is probably just crazy and that she heard something else, but she REALLY wants us to sing for everyone... I'll let you know how that goes! Sister Frank is a lady in our Ward and she got up in front of the entire congregation and bore her testimony about being out with Sister Holyoak and I! She told EVERYONE that we have beautiful voices and that she dibs us the "singing nuns"! hahahahaha SO now our whole ward thinks we are great singers and now they all have this wonderful nickname for us... hahahaha The next thing I wanted to to all ya'll is that we now have 3 INVESTIGATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WOOHOO!!!! I am just so excited that things are starting to pick up! We have been so blessed this last week! We met this man name Stephon last Tuesday and he sat next to me at the library and started to talk to me! He asked me what my name was and I told him "Sister Woodland" so that got us started talking about the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I set up an appointment to see him and he said sure!!! So we met with him on Friday! He asked some REALLY crazy questions and we got the Law of Chastity Lesson out right in the first appointment.... hahaha It was a little awkward, but he still wants to learn more! So we are excited to see how that will go! THEN, yesterday we had gotten out of an appointment with one of our less actives and we had like 3 missed calls and 2 text messages from the elders who cover our area in Spanish. They said it was a miracle and that we needed to get over to where they were as fast as we could! So we did... We met a mom and her daughter who are from West Africa and THEY ARE SO PREPARED! It was seriously the coolest lesson! It was the first time Sister Holyoak and I were able to teach the Restoration together with actual investigators! They said that if they found out that these things are true then they would be baptized! The daughter said the closing prayer and she even said in the prayer that she knows these things are true, but that she would like another witness!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! I am so excited to teach them! Then right after we got out of that appointment we decided to go contact some people and we saw this group of kids paying basketball! We had contacted some of them already so we decided to contact the rest! One of the girls pointed at me while we were walking over and yelled, "THAT'S MY GIRL." hahaha It was so great! They remembered us!! THEN when we had finished talking to all of the kids we got another text message, but this one was from our Zone Leaders. They said that a guy named Kyle had contacted them and wanted a Book of Mormon!!!! HE CONTACTED THEM!!! I just want you all to know that that NEVER happens... people do not normally contact us... hahahaha But they said that he really wants to learn more! So we will hopefully be meeting him sometimes this week! MIRACLES PEOPLE! Wow... I am still not sure if all of it is for real... hahaha But that was my week in a nut shell! Pretty great, right?! (: (: (: 

     I hope that all of you have the best week ever and that things keep going great for all of you! You are always in my prayers! I am so grateful for all that you do for me all of the time and for the love and support! I appreciate more than yous will ever know.

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

Love, Sister Woodland

P.S. Isn't that nuts that I will almost have been out for 6 months... That means I will only have a year left... SO CRAZY! Time is just going to fly by faster and faster now.... 

May 27, 2014 (Pictures!)

Me opening my presents and reading my letters! (:

One of my new outfits! 

This was something Sister holyoak and Sister collins hung in our apartment! So cute! Sister Holyoak also put signs up all over the apartment with compliments and stuff... it was really nice!!!

Parade

Us and the Elders at the parade!

This is Sister McCready and Brother McCready. The people we live below. They are members and they are seriously the best to us!

Parade

May 27, 2014 (We got this!)

Family,
I loved absolutely everything! I had a great Birthday! I went on an exchange on Thursday to Friday morning so I was with one of my Sister Training Leaders and she made me pancakes and a smoothie for breakfast that morning. When I got home around 11 am on Friday, Sister Holyoak and Sister Collins had decorated our apartment! It was really cute! TONS of missionaries texted me Happy Birthday and President Jeppson and Sister Jeppson called and sang Happy Birthday to me later that night! Sister Holyoak took me out to lunch and we went to a place called Bobby's Burger Place. IT IS SOOO GOOD. Then we had another great day of missionary work! This really sweet family in our Ward made us dinner that night and they made me a cake! I had a great Birthday on the Mish! (: So thank you ALL for everything! I really appreciate it so much! I had a great day!
     We are still struggling at finding new investigators so we are trying to get really creative with different finding ideas! It should be a lot of fun this week... It might get a little crazy, but at least we will have lots of stories to take from this weeks adventures! We had a couple of Potential Investigators, but none of them were interested. The one man who had read the news paper article was an older man and he told us right off the bat that he didn't want to be converted he just wanted to know how we were doing... hahaha He told us that his nephew has already tried to convert him so we really shouldn't try...! That is always hard to hear... but something I have really learned on my mission is that people have their free agency. Even though I want to force them to know that this is true.... I can't! Bummer... hahaha But I know that things are going to go well! We have seen how willing the members in our area are to help us out! They are doing all they can to find those who are prepared and ready to receive the Restored Gospel. I know that it is going to take a little time before things start to pick up, but I know that they will! I was reading a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland titled, "Missionary Work and the Atonement." I wanted to share three quotes that really have helped me this past week and still are helping me. 

·         "Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy."

·         "I don't believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul."

·         "The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him-- the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 

So I have realized that even though it has been tough and discouraging at times my Savior knows exactly what I am going through. He is going to help me through this and I know that as I continue forward with faith things WILL work out! (:
     I hope all of you had a great Memorial Day! I had a really fun day! We got to go to a parade in downtown Main in Hightstown with the McCready's (the family we live below). It was a lot of fun! One of the members in our Ward, Brother Lee, was the Grand Marshall this year so that was fun to see him in the parade! Then we had a Ward picnic and we got to go with the McCready's and with Sally, the recent convert from Tai Wan. It was a blast! We played lots of games with the other missionaries and with the families and my arms got fried! hahaha They are soooo red... Whoops! It was so much fun though! I was exhausted afterwards! Then the McCready's made me dinner for my birthday because they had been out of town. We had dinner on the patio because it was a beautiful day! They also got me an ice cream cake! They take such good care of us! If we didn't get fed one day she ALWAYS makes sure we have had a good decent meal.
     So, things are still pretty slow here, but I am excited to see how things will go this next week! I hope that things keep going well for all of you! I love hearing how things are going back at home! You guys are seriously the best and I don't know what I would do without you! So thanks for you examples and for everything you do for me! I hope that you have a great week!
I LOVE YOUS TO THE MOON AND BACK!!! WE GOT THIS!!!
Love, Sister Woodland
P.S. That is so crazy that everyone is spraining or breaking their ankles... Tell everyone to be careful!! haha I will definitely keep everyone in my prayers!
I LOVE YOUS!!!

Thank You SO much for the Birthday gifts, letters, and cards!!! 

May 19, 2014 (Rough.)

Hey Fam,

     What a week! I think this past week has been the hardest week of my mission so far with actual missionary work! We have only had 2 investigators for awhile and they were both progressing for awhile too... One of them texted us earlier in the week and told us to not bring anyone else with us this appointment because she wanted to talk to us privately about something. We just knew that she was going to drop us. She had been slowing down on things like reading her scriptures and saying her prayers. I didn't think that it was going to be as hard as it really was! When we sat down with her on Thursday she told us that she had received an answer to her prayers and that this just wasn't right for her right now in her life. She did tell us that that doesn't mean she will never join, but just not right now! She cried through the entire thing which just made Sister Holyoak and I cry as well... haha It was so hard! She never got married and she doesn't have any children, but when she hugged us she said that it was like having to say goodbye to her daughters!!! That just made me cry harder! haha It was really neat though! She told us as we were walking away that she wanted us to know our teaching and the lesson we had with her were not in vain! I really needed to hear that and I know so did Sister Holyoak! Then we knew that we needed to drop our other investigator because she is not progressing anymore and we needed to spend our time somewhere else! That lesson was really crazy... She was not very nice! hahaha That made it easier for us to drop her though! It really needed to happen and it probably has been needing to happen for awhile now! Hopefully things will go well for both of these sweet ladies and that later down the road they will be ready to receive the restored gospel! We had some other crazy things happen, but enough sad news! We have also seen some AMAZING miracles come from the members in our Ward! One of our recent Converts named Sally told us on Saturday that she has a friend in High School who is interested in learning about our religion! Now let me tell you about Sally real quick. Sally is from Tai Wan and she has been a member of the church for about 6 months now. SHE IS SO SHY! I mean like really shy! hahah She ALWAYS comes out with us though! ALWAYS! And she has been getting better and now she will talk a few times in the lessons and she will help us contact people of the streets! I love her SOOO much! She is here on like a foreign exchange kind of thing... But she is all by herself! I really admire her! All of the young women's leaders are so good at making sure she is included and keep in contact with her! Anyway, we had taught Sally about missionary work and we had given her a pass-a-long card and a Book of Mormon and challenged her to give it to someone! We didn't know how it was going to go especially since she is so shy, but when she told us she had given the pass-a-long card to her friend at school we couldn't believe it!!! We gave her the biggest hug! People probably thought we were crazy! We are SOO excited to meet her friend! So I know that even though times may get extremely hard sometimes out on the mish, Heavenly Father is ALWAYS looking out for us and He is ALWAYS going to help us. It is just going to be in His time and not ours! We are going to be visiting with the members in our area and we are going to be teaching them about missionary work and hopefully we will get some more referrals from them! We are so excited to see the miracles that I know are going to happen this upcoming week! So don't be worried about me! I am just fine! (: Just a rough week! It happens though, right?! 

     I am really so glad that things are still going well back home! Tell everyone thanks so much for the cute birthday emails! I loved opening my email to see lots of emails from the ward! That was so sweet! (: So tell them all thank you from me! I will definitely keep Ethan in my prayers! Send them my love as well! MOM. I AM SO GLAD THAT THE DOCTOR TOLD YOU THINGS ARE GOOD WITH YOUR BREAST CANCER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me! I am so relieved and so grateful! PARTY!! WOOHOO! (: Goodness I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for everything you do for me all the time! Especially all you guys do to help me when I have had a hard week! YOUS ARE THE BEST! I hope that you all have the best week ever!!! LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!!! WE GOT THIS!!! (: (: (: Don't forget to share the gospel! 

Love, Sister Woodland

p.s. I have been out for over 5 months now!!! CRAZY. LOVE YOUS!

p.p.s. we are going to go to a puppy place now and play with puppies to make us happier! We feel like we deserve that because of our crazy week.... hahahaha (: (: (: