love from, sister wood: July 11, 2017

Hi everyone! I feel like it's been forever since I have got to write. So I am in St. Johns right now at the church with my trainer sister nowlon, she's from calgary and is super sweet and super encouraging. Today is our pday so this morning we were playing basketball with the elders which was super fun haha they were all shocked that I could play. I love all of the missionaries so much, they are all just trying their best to do this work, and let me tell you it is hard work! haha I think I am finally starting to realize that this is all real. So rewind to last week, holy I can't believe that last week I was at the MTC, that seems like it was months ago. Tuesday morning we woke up at 4:30(which is not early at all compared to what most people have to do) and were leaving the MTC by 6. When we got to the Salt Lake airport it basically just felt like we were in a different MTC somewhere haha there were so many missionaries, and of course, so many members. There wasn't enough phones for all of us to call so I didn't get the chance to call home there, and I felt bad using people's cell phones because they were probably expecting that I was from the states. There were a few "firsts" for me on the plane to toronto haha. I got my fist mini pat down going through security and then I also used a bathroom on a plane for the first time, which went well until this old man walked in on me haha. He started trying to pull the door open and so I grabbed it and was trying to hold it closed while saying "Sorry I'm in here!" but I lost the war and the door went flying open haha good times. It was ok though because when I got back to my seat the guy in front of me was watching the new beauty and the beast so I got to creep in on that. I'd have to say that hands down though the best part of the day was us missing our plane to halifax. We joked tons about us missing a plane but it's definitely a lot funnier when I actually happens hahah. We got to the toronto airport and Elder doucette and I had no problem getting into canada but for the other US missionaries it was a different story. It took three hours for them to all get their visas! So elder doucette and I just gathered all the baggage and stood and waited. That's also when I tried calling people, but just ended up coming back to our pile of luggage a little depressed because no one answered. I asked troy if he had got to call home yet and he hadn't either so I gave him my calling card and he got to talk to his mom for awhile. When he was finished I decided to see if I had any minutes left, so I called grandma and she picked up!! she said she had just barely walked in the door haha blessings for sharing my calling card. That was really awesome getting to hear your voice grandma. So our plane was scheduled to leave at 5:45 but everyone didnt come out of the visa place until around 6:20 haha so we knew we definitely had missed it. We went to the travel office, and this is the best part, the window was closed with a sign on it that said "closed for the holidays" haha I guess canadian airports celebrate july 4th. So then we tried calling president pratt and the mission office and there was no answer, and then we started getting a little worried. We eventually did get help though and had to split our group up into two, 7 missionaries were catching a flight at 9, and then me and 3 others caught a flight at 9:30. The 4 of us got to our gate and realized that we were starving because all we had ate that day was literally almonds and pretzels from the previos flight haha and there were no food places by our gate so we ran back to this food court grabbed some burgers and fries and ran back (during which, my carry on bag strap broke, I am having good luck with bags hahah) ate the burgers in like 1 minute and got on the plane. I was in the middle of two men. one of them was rick scott who is a volley ball coach in dartmouth (dart-mith) and invited me to his games in the fall and said he'd get me in for free haha. I felt kinda bad when I pulled my greasy fries out of my bag, because they both were kinda just trying not to stare at them. I don't know if you're allowed to bring food like that on planes but I was starving so I didn't really care.

We got to halifax at 12:40 and everyone was by our luggage waiting for us! It was good to see elder larson, and president pratt is so amazing! We got to the mission home around 1:30am had some chile that sister pratt had made for us and then went to bed. The sisters slept downstairs and the elders slept upstairs. The next day we did some training, went for a walk by this beautiful lake that was just across the street from the mission home, I had my interview with president pratt that went really really well, and then did some door step teaching. That night (wednesday) is when I found out about Josh. Josh was always so energetic and always just wanted to have fun with his friends. I love that he got the heart and hustle award in high school because that describes him perfectly. He has a huge heart and I was blessed to have known him in this life. I'm praying for his family to feel comfort, I hope they know how much their son was and is loved. I love you Josh<3. I was pretty shocked and devastated when I heard, it was hard being here where no one knew him. I was really grateful when president pratt asked if I wanted a blessing, it brought me a lot of peace, I got to talk to dad on the phone after too which was really just what I needed.

Thursday everybody started heading off to there areas. It was kinda sad saying goodbye to sister soucie and barlow but sister rodrigues and I got to go to the temple one last time together. Then she left to her area and I got ready to hop on another plane to st. johns. I got here around 11pm on thursday night. And finally met my trainer sister nowlon! shes from calgary haha! she's super sweet! I love her so much.

A lot has happened since then but I'm running out of time, so I love you all! and yes I got your package mom, thank you!

Love sister wood

ps. new mailing address is, 3 guernsey place unit #4 st.johns newfoundland Postal code A1E 0C8