October 31, 2017

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This week was pretty crazy, we went to Halifax for our exchanges with the STLTs haha(sister training leader trainers)  and then on Saturday we had our branch Halloween party hahah not the biggest success but it is something we can look back and laugh at now. Basically every one that said they were going to come started to cancel throughout the day and the whole day we were just joking about how sister Goodwin (a lady in the ward) would still come and low and behold when 5:30 rolled around who was the one person to pull up in the parking lot hahah sister Goodwin in her hobo costume,  we were dying laughing haha. The lee Wens ended up staying too, I love that family, they are so awesome, and then just as we decided we should start packing up a less active walked through the door so we kept the party rolling haha.

some sad news, millie dropped us:( she said that the book of Mormon tells her to seek knowledge and so she is going to seek knowledge in the Baptist church... I know right hahah not exactly what you expect someone to take from the book of Mormon. Some very very happy news though is the 3 recent converts in Amherst got to go to the temple on Saturday! They all had an amazing time they said. they went to a Chinese buffet after though and apparently the food was now the best and they were all in the bathrooms after haha .

We gave a training in district meeting about using God's time in the best way. We talked about how we can be doing good things but if we don't have the real intent behind it then we are not going to profit anything from it, to show this made these cupcakes and gave them to everyone but after one bite they found out that the good looking cupcakes weren't good at all. we packed those cupcakes with so much nasty stuff haha it was a good time.

this week I was reading this talk about happiness and I can't remember what it's called but it's by elder Holland. I loved this one line in it that went something like. "happiness is like a butterfly. the more we chase after it the more it will elude us. but when we turn our focus towards other things it will come and land softly on our shoulder" in the talk it tells us what those "other things" are that we should turn our attention to that will guide us down a pathway of happiness.

Before I go shout out to mikey to proposing to my best friend and for doing it in the sweetest way possible!!!!!!! I am so so excited for you rylee and mikey!! everyone is getting engaged! michelle, isabelle, rylee!! I know you are next shay;) I am just waiting for that email!

haha I love you each so much! have fun trick or trerating! we are on house arrest after five but we get to hand out candy so we are going to tape Mormon cards to all of the chocolate bars:)

love sister wood

oh wait temple work is so important so go and find names and do their work for them and if you don't know how to find names then find someone that can teach you:) it is all of our responsibility so don't just shrug it off and leave it all up to someone else to do!

October 24, 2017

Hey everyone!

quick email this week sorry!

first off I have to correct myself the talk by elder hales is called "the covenant of baptism: to be in the kingdom and of the kingdom"

We had MLC last week (missionary leaders conference) and we talked a lot about taking responsibility, we read a talk to prepare for it and it was called "be 100 percent responsible" by lynn g robins and that talk has changed my mission:) I've realized that sometimes you just have to go the extra mile to see results. I wish I could sum up the talk but it's just too good so you just have to read it haha. another talk that I read this week was called "the lord doesn't grade on a curve". We need to encourage other peoples talents and not become discouraged from them. often we compare our weakest points to other peoples strongest points. sorry this first paragraph is just going to be really random but I just love sharing things that I've learned. so we know that the book of mormon is the cornerstone of our religion. As missionaries we do all we can to persuade people to read it, to give it a chance and pray about it because that witness that we receive from the Holy Ghost that the book of mormon is the word of God becomes the cornerstone of our faith in Jesus Christ and that His church is restored. cool fact: there will be 5 things that we will stand before to be judged; Jesus Christ, the scriptues, apostales, our bishops, and ourselves. 

This week we had exchanges with the Charlottetown sisters. sister degraffenreid is a new missionary and so it was great spending a day with her. I just can't believe that  Im not a new missionary anymore haha. I was just reading in enos too mom haha and that's cool how you pointed out that he started praying for his brethren because that is what stuck out to me:) I need to pray more for the sisters in my zone, there are a few companionships who are struggling. all of the sisters have so much potential and their areas have so much potential too and they just need the faith that there are people for them to teach.

There were so many people at church on sunday! it was amazing! the lee wins are a family in the branch and they have 6 kids haha and Helena is the youngest. Oh my she is hilarious, she is 4 years old and is just a free spirit. she came up to me and said "can you please just let me sit on your lap i'm not a stanger, I'm just helena" hahah I wish everyone could just meet her. 

right now we are teaching millie, nicole, brittany and dave, and tony. I will try and elaborate more on them next week! 

We have a branch halloween party that we are planning that I will send lots of pictures of, hopefully it is a success!!

I love you! have a great week:)

love sister wood

 

 

October 17, 2017

Hey everyone!

so this week we had zone conference and something that president pratt said in his training that has stuck with me is that we need to get better at helping people see the need they have for the gospel. As soon as they realize why they need the gospel and why it is relevant in their lives, teaching them will become so easy because they will want to learn. something else that I learned this week is that obedience give us the chance to be humble. In the bible Naaman has to humble himself and dunk himself in the river 7 times to be healed of his leprosy, something that is so simple but he almost didn't do it because it was so simple. God gives us such simple commandments, like reading our scriptures and saying our prayers but still we can struggle to do these things. Something that I think is so interesting is that God could give us investigators whenever he wants... but that would in no way benefit us. God is less concerned with our comfort and more concerned about our progress. His desire is for us to become like Him and the key word in that is 'become'. We have to BECOME like God, not just BE God. A talk that I read this week was called "baptism, our first covenant with God" (or something like that) and it's by elder Hales. It talks about being a representative of Jesus Christ and I hope you can all find the time to read it. It is one of my favourite talks. There are so many lines in it that I love but something that I especially like is "The scriptures confirm that the truly converted do more than just forsake the enticements of the world. They love their God and their fellowmen. their minds and their hearts are centered on the Savior's atoning sacrifice." It's October and I am thinking constantly about Brynn and about being more kind. Sunday we had stake conference and President Pratt gave a talk that was all about being kind and serving. His talk began with a few questions like "does it make sense to join a chess club and then refuse to think?" this question then lead to "does it make sense to claim discipleship and then offend, reject, or ignore our brothers and sisters? does it make sense to take on the name of Christ and then not do the very thing that forms His character?" People don't nee a leadership position to feel the need to bless the lives of those around them. Loving and caring for each other is a mandate of our discipleship. Why do we then still find reason to be unkind? We are not justified in ignoring another's need and we are not justified in holding a grudge. Grandpa's favourite song was love one another and I am starting to understand why. "love one another as (Jesus) loves you". We are called to be extensions of Christ's love. Life can be so much more joyful when we love our brothers and sisters without expecting something in return. Our happiness can be independent of our trials.

some soul searching questions that have been asked lately are, "Who is god it you" "who are you praying to, why are you praying?"

by learning who Christ is we can learn who God is. knowing who God is, can we have faith and trust in Him? Why?something I love from conference is "maybe we have the faith to be healed...but do we have the faith not to be healed? what is our faith in?" I hope that all of our faith can be centered in Heavenly Father's plan.

Also before I go, thank you rope for the letter of encouragement haha I opened it expecting a big long letter from my mom but nope it was just a silly little letter from you but it was perfect and just what I needed<3

I love you all so much!!!

love sister wood 

October 9, 2017

Awe mom I love you so much. I wish I could just tell you every little detail of the week:) 

to answer your questions our address is 35 poplar st. amherst NS B4H 1L4. church on sunday was good, there was about 15 people there, it was kinda sad 4 of our investigators were going to come and then 30 minutes before church they all slowly one by one canceled. something else that is sad is karen. She was our investigator and she was going to get baptized on the 21st this month but last night right before we went to bed we got a text that said she didn't want us to text her or stop by her house anymore and that she wasn't going to be baptized. It was so out of no where, we are still going to try and stop by her and try to figure out what happened, but I remember in the MTC in our last conference the MTC president spoke to us and said that our missions would stretch us and we would go through hard things but that the hardest thing we would go through would be when we spend so much time with a person and we see the gospel change their lives but then our of no where they will say don't come back, and at that moment your heart will brake, but also this is when you will be able to experience the power of the atonement the most stongly. And that is so true. There are so many things that you go through everyday that really should just brake your spirit but but somehow you find the strength and the energy to keep going. I think it comes from truly understanding the gospel and from the tender mercies that God gives to us each day:) I am so grateful for those little tender mercies everyday! I love my family and I miss you all this thanksgiving but I am so grateful for your support and your emails and pictures<3 I just always feel so much love! 

love sister wood

October 3, 2017

ok I will try and answer your questions first haha. I wish I could just talk to you it would be so much faster. yes send the american girl doll clothes to st. johns and on the package just write sister fernandez instead of sister wood so that they don't try and send it to me after. I don't know my address here in amhest yet but you can just send the parcel to the mission office! So sister auvignes birthday is this month and her cousin that passed away from brain cancer has a birthday this month too and I really want to get her a necklace like my little B one from aunt christy. her cousins name is Julia so do you think you could send me a J necklace, it's ok if it doesnt come with this package though. so in the mission there are five zones and then districts within the zones so there are zone leaders and then STL are in charge of all of the sisters in that zone. So we have 3 sister companionships in our zone that we kinda look after and will go on exchanges with (they will come to our area and we will switch up the companionships and make sure they are doing ok and help them to become better and correct any thing that they may be doing wrong) I hope I don't have to correct anyone because I don't like doing that haha  and this is only my 3rd tranfer so it's kinda weird with the sisters who have been out way longer than me. Amherst is a branch and there's about 25 members. I excited for church next sunday to get to meet everyone! Our apartment is soo cute, if I have time I will try and send some pictures this week. I miss st. John's but I love Amherst! It is the cutest little town ever! I feel like it's a town from a nancy drew book haha so perfect for fall! Also next week our pday is on monday for thanksgiving and we have another all day pday!! we are so excited Sister nowlon, and sister auvigne are so much fun haha we are just laughing all the time, also sister auvigne loves sharing clothes which makes me think of all my sister a lot which I love.

Holy was conference ever amazing! There was just so much love felt for President Monson. Every talk answered one of my questions it was awsome! Just something about being a missionary just made me really want to absorb every word and better myself. and knowing that our investigators were watching conference as well just made me pray so much harder for the speakers.I can't wait for the ensign to come out, I usually have a favourite talk but I don't think I can pick one this time.