July 18, 2017

HAPPY BIRHTDAY ABBY!!!!!!! Holy life would have been so boring without you haha. I can't believe that you are 14!! but at the same time i kinda can because you've looked 16 for the past 2 years. Just know that if I was home right now I'd be chasing you around and throwing you in the pool haha I hope you are having a fun day!!

I am starting to slowly figure out the people in newfoundland more and more each day haha. The first week I was just struggling to even figure out what they were saying haha but I am catching onto the accents and slang over here. They say "yes by" and "best kind" a lot,  I am not totally sure what exactly those phrases mean haha but "best kind" is kinda a response for how you are doing and "yes by" is just like a greeting or something. So other things that I have learned are, 1. everybody here has a pet and there clothes and houses are always covered in their fur haha dad you would love it ;) 2. everybody here smokes 3. everybody has crazy stories to tell 4. everyone has a really complicated past and they just need someone to confide in. it is crazy what people have been through and the saddest part is how common those things are for everyone around here.

So newfoundland is basically just like this gigantic national park! You would not believe how beautiful it is here! I find myself constantly wishing that I had my camera haha. It's so green and so hot and humid! Downton is supper cool, and the atlantic ocean is literally right there haha! Today we took a 20minute drive to capespeare which is the most eastern point in Canada!! which is so stinkin cool, but the coolest part was that we saw whale!!! so that was definitely a highlight of the week. 

This week we had zone conference in Gander which is a 3h and 40minute drive from st johns haha a lot of driving. that was on friday the 14th which means... I hit my one month mark! crazy! All of the sisters in newfoundland (6 sisters)  slept at the sisters house in gander which was fun. sister cahoon from magrath was there and she is supper nice. zone conference was awesome. We talked a lot about how important it is to involve the members in missionary work and guess what... that means you guys haha. I know that if I was just at home rn reading this email, i would just read that last sentence and be like whatever haha but I am not, I am the missionary out in newfoundland telling you guys to figure how you can get involved in missionary work! Invite the missionaries over for FHE and tell them to bring one of their investigators, let the missionaries know what days and times you are available at to go to lessons with them. Getting involved in missionary work is really helping you live your temple covenants. 

some things that we learned at zone conference that really stuck out to me are:

1. "Taking the sacrament is like getting baptized again" is FALSE. the sacrament is not equal to baptism. baptism is a saving ordinance, it gives a remission of our sins, it is the gateway to exaltation/eternal life, it prepares us to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. A true statement however is "repenting is like getting baptized again". I've been looking at what I do to repent and I've realized that I need to work harder at truly repenting. The sacrament is, of course, still important. Constantly taking the sacrament allows the spirit to always be with us. It makes us more committed to change and therefore more willing to repent and so allow sacrament is not a required part in being forgiven it makes us more likely to repent and seek forgiveness.(3 nephi 18:11-12) The sacrament is a GIFT that strengthens us to endure:) and so why wouldn't you want to be partaking of it every week. 

Elder smith had asked me to give a talk this past sunday because there was a last minute cancellation so I prepared that saturday night and sunday morning but didn't end up giving it because we ran out of time in sacrament meeting haha the life of a missionary. We basically teach a different class every hour of church. There's probably about 40 people who come each sunday. There are no young men and out of all of st johns there are two yw who are baptized and one of them is moving to halifax on thursday. can you even imagine that abby?? Theres four other girls who come to church and yw activities though( i dont think they have any interest in being baptized though) and they are so so so awesome. There's amber(gr 11) Ushul(gr 10) lilly (gr 9) and jaz (gr8) and chasity and aelia are baptised. They are all pretty crazy haha but I love hanging out with them, they get attached to the sister missionaries pretty quick haha. Jonny and Jordan low got  back to st johns and I saw her on Sunday!!! it's so funny that she was a sister wood once too haha. 

We had an investigator who was suppose to get baptized on the 29th of july and it was going to be in the ocean because she is allergic to chlorine so it was going to be so cool! but she just recently got charged with assault haha sooo we have to wait until after she goes to court to see what we can do. apparently we are not the only ones working hard out here, the devil is working hard too. That is just one example, of many i am sure, of how the process of getting someone baptized goes haha. 

You've been asking a lot about my typical day haha and honestly there really hasn't been a "typical" day yet. We wake up at 6:30 workout till 7, get ready, daily plan at around 8, then do personal study and are out the door by 10 o'clock. We have lessons with investigators, street contacting, door step contacting, give people rides, companion study, 12 week training, check up on less actives, and then just other random things, and are back to the house by 9 and have lights out by 10. 

I love you all. I die at the pictures you guys send me! but in a good way haha so don't stop sending them! especially this week at the ones of kelsie and truman! AHHHH!! I love them! It sounds like barnwell days was another success except what the heck you didn't win the volleyball tounament!? haha jk we'll win in 2 years when I'm back;)

love sister wood