July 1, 2017

I think the most stressful part of the week might be emailing haha. Am I seriously getting on a plane to Halifax this tuesday!?! We started packing our bags up today and it just feels so weird, I'm pretty sure we were just unpacking them...

Last Sunday was pretty awesome. So every week we prepare two talks because during sacrament meeting two random missionaries get selected by the branch president to give a talk and so you can probably guess where this is going haha I was picked last week. But it really wasn't a surprise, you just can feel when you are going to get picked, so I was already staring right at president Samuelian when he called my name. I gave a talk on the atonement and it went well but what I'll always remember is the testimony I bore at the end. You know how we're promised that when we bear our testimonies that they'll be strengthened, I feel like I really understand that now. Afterwards President Samuelian pulled me aside and told me that while he was choosing the speakers the Lord said "her" and he said "but she's still here for another week" and the Lord said "I don't care, she needs to speak" I love how the president tells stories haha. He is seriously the most spiritual man I have ever met. I wish that everyone could just get the chance to have a 5 minute interview with him because it changes your life haha. He asked me if I had seen the email that he sent me but I told him I hadn't yet, so later when we got back to the residence I read it and this is what it said, 

"Sister wood, this morning as I was driving you came to mind. I have watched you as you have gently and kindly helped your companion. I have a feeling to tell you that throughout your mission the Lord will give you companions who will need that love, that kindness, that charity. I love the words of the hymn, "Lord I would follow thee". "In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye can't see." If you desire to help and lift another, I promise that you will find "strength beyond your own". Even more importantly, you will be going to acquire more and more of the most rare and valuable commodity known to mankind...charity. I love you."-president

The funny thing is that sister rodrigues and I pick the hymns for sacrament meeting and we chose "Lord I would follow thee" for the closing hymn:) probably not a coincidence. Lately the word DESIRE has been popping up a lot and having charity is something that I definitely desire to have and if on my mission the definition of "success" that the Lord has for me is, not the amount of investigators I help to convert but rather, the amount of companions that I help, then that is the type of missionary I will strive to become. Lord, I would follow thee:)

Sunday night President and sister lords came and spoke to us. He focussed on, in D+C 121, the sentence "many are called but few are chosen. Everyone in the MTC and in the mission field have been "called" but the difference between being called and being chosen is that we walk with God. In verse 25 we learned that we are not walking with God when are hearts are set upon things of the world. And so we need to have BOTH feet in the mission.

After the devotional we had to say goodbye to two districts in our zone and two of our roommates. People just come and go so fast here at the MTC and it kinda hurts my heart a little bit haha but thankfully there is something to always be excited for. 

On monday we had the most AMAZING lesson with Brother Ales. I wish I could have recorded the whole thing and sent it to you guys. It took up 6 pages in my note book and it's kinda impossible to summarize but some things that really stood out to me were

-everybody gets to be resurrected because it wasn't their choice to experience the 1st spiritual death(being born and leaving God's presence) the first spiritual death came because of Adam and Eve, but we will pay the price of our own sins if we do not repent(come unto christ), if we do not repent this will be the second spiritual death, When Christ says on the cross "My God, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" that was HIm experiencing the 2nd spiritual death, Christ really hast felt the pain of everything that we could ever feel.

-in john 19:30 when Christ says "it's finished" He is not saying that the Atonement is finished, but He is finished paying the price for sin because he continued to suffer like he did in Gethsemane for us on the cross.

- We are told to exercise faith in Jesus Christ but we pray to our Father and not Him because Heavenly Father blesses us with the gift of the Holy Ghost, and with the Holy Ghost we can endure to the end

A question that I had while we were learning about the atonement was why did Christ have to suffer / atone instead of Heavenly Father just extending mercy or suffering himself? And I found my answer in Alma 42. especially 42:15. It goes law then God then us, but that is just kinda the answer I got so it might not make sense haha

I also learned that every time I have broken my fast that is me breaking a commandment with God and Christ had to suffer for that...that was not fun reflecting on all the times i have broken my fast early haha sooo I am going to try and not do that anymore.

Tuesday was possibly the most spiritual day of my life all because of the devotional. TEN APOSTLES WERE THERE!!!!!!! Like holy cow!!!!! I re-freak out just thinking about it. Sister soucie and I sang in the choir and on our way over we walked right by elder Cook and he said "Hello sisters"!!!! Singing in the choir was so amazing. Tuesday was the 173rd anniversary of Joseph smiths martyrdom and we sang "praise to the man". I can't wait to meet Joseph Smith and hug him and say thankyou. I loved being able to sing that with all the apostles there. There was elder ballard, elder holland, elder Christopherson, elder bednar, elder oaks, elder renlund, elder rasband, elder stevenson, elder anderson, and elder cook!!!!

Elder bednar spoke to us and I was dying first of all. I just couldn't believe this was happening but then I remembered that I really should be listening haha. He bore his testimony of joseph smith at the beginning something he said was, "If you are ever at a loss of what to say, testify of joseph smith. He talked about "The word" and how one thing that the word represents is christ and also how it is the seed that we need to plant in our hearts. And so we need to be planting christ in our hearts. I love that. 

On wednesday we got to host(helping new missionaries come into the mtc) and it was super fun. WE also ran into elder stevenson which is pretttty cool. sister soucie and I got a little teary eyed seeing the families saying goodbye to their missionaries but that is exactly what we were told not to do so we had to pull it together haha. 

This week our teacher has been pretending to be an investigator that she had on her mission and we have been teaching her lessons. The investigators name is brynn:) When she said it at first I just kinda grabbed my necklace(thankyou for the necklace christy). I'm so grateful that Brynn knows what is true and that she is probably doing the same thing as me right now:)

Last of all HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! I'll admit that i'm a little sad today just thinking about the raymond parade and rodeo and tubing at the lake but it turns out that there is a "stadium of fire" thing that byu does for July 4th but they are doing it today! haha so we will be celebrating canada day too!:) Also all the girls loved the eatmores haha thanks mom.

I can't believe that i'll be in halifax next time i write! wha the!!! crossing my fingers that all goes well and that i love my trainer! I am so excited to meet president pratt and his wife!

Love you all so much!

love sister wood