ister Wood
On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 1:07 PM, Melissa Wood <melissa.wood@myldsmail.net> wrote:
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Monday, August 31, 2015
Week #14
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Week #13
How crazy is it that this week I will have been out on a mission for 3 months?! Time has seriously flown right on by.
This
week at district meeting we found out that we are no longer allowed to
go to the beach on p-days or on district activities. So that was a
bummer. Im glad that I got to go before that was changed. The beach
here in Pensacola is super pretty! White sand and all :) So I am glad I
got to see that before the change. I got a copy of a talk given by
Elder Bednar that was given in the MTC entitled the Character of
Christ. That is like gold for missionaries. So I was pretty happy
about that.
Sister Owens and I had a pretty awesome experience on Wednesday.
We were contacting some potential and former investigators in a
specific area. We tried contacting a lady named Cathy. We couldn't
find her house, so we just walked around the neighborhood with the
Family History Survey and tracted that way for about 45 minutes. We
then somehow found Cathy's house. We knocked on her door, no answer.
We knocked a second time, no answer. Sister Owens wanted to head out
but I felt like we should knock just one more time. Then a few seconds
after we knocked the third time, through the door Cathy asked who we
were. We told her we were the Sister Missionaries from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. And she let us in! She was so
excited to see us and explained to us that she had been expecting us!
How crazy is that?! We visited with her for a while and then shared the
message of the Restoration with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and
she said she would read it. We were super excited. So you could say
that Wednesday was a pretty good day.
Thursday
we had dinner with an awesome lady in our ward. She has a daughter
that just turned 1 at the end of July. We were helping her fold her
daughter's, Ciana, clothes. Ciana is starting to take steps all by her
self. So Ciana took her first steps when walking from Sister Owens to
me. It was super cute! As missionaries we aren't allowed to hold
babies, so seeing a baby walk between us was pretty exciting stuff!
Especially if you know how much I just love babies. That was the
highlight of the week! haha
Friday
I went back to the doctor because I haven't been getting better
really. I am now on my third round of antibiotics. So hopefully after
this round everything will be good.
Sunday
was super awesome! We had three investigators at church! Ermilisa
loves coming to church. She always looks so happy at church. She
participated in the lesson in Gospel Principles and is pretty much
friends with everyone! Its great to see!
Yesterday we had
the awesome opportunity to have a half mission conference with Elder
Nielson and Elder Stanfil of the Seventy. They were both very good and I
learned so much from the conference. I learned a lot about my purpose
as a missionary. I also had the lights clock on so to speak about the
gospel literally being centered on the Atonement and Doctrine of Jesus
Christ.
I love being a missionary even more now. The
Atonement is absolutely incredible. Like Elder Bednar teaches, the
Atonement makes bad men good through the redeeming power, and it makes
good men better through the enabling and strengthening power.
I
learned that my mission is training me how to live for the rest of my
life. Sister Nielson talked about how the mission is preparing and
teaching us how to build eternal families. And that is so true! I am
so grateful for this opportunity that Heavenly Father has blessed me
with to mold and shape me into the person that I need to be. I have
seen how my increased knowledge of the scriptures and the principles of
the gospel have motivated me to strive to do and be my very best. My
desire to share the Gospel with everyone has increased just like Preach
My Gospel said it would.
I have gained love and desire to
study the scriptures and the principles of the Gospel. President Smith
said yesterday that we are changing and converting ourselves. That is
so true!! If I accomplish nothing else on my mission, I know that I
have been changed from bad to good and have learned how to change from
good to better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ is true!! I know that with all of my heart.
Sister
Stanfil talked about how we have been saved for this time. We were
meant to come to the earth at this time to help hasten the work of the
Lord.
The past five weeks of being sick has taught me how
important it is to be committed to the work, to be diligent, and to rely
on the Lord. It has taught me that I really cannot serve a mission
without the Lord's help. Then stepping back and looking at it with a
broader perspective, I have learned that I cannot live my life without
the Lord's help.
Before coming out on my mission I was
advised to choose to make my mission incredible. I now know that it can
be incredible when we do what is asked of us, when we strengthen our
relationship with the savior and when we understand how perfect Heavenly
Father's plan really is!
2 Attachments
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
August 17,2015
Well this week has been an adventure. I am
still sick, but I got a blession from Elder Harris at District meeting
last Tuesday. That blessing was just what I needed. It just
confirmed to me that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my situation. I
know that I will get better, I just have to trust in the Lord and in
his timing. All is well :)
So this week we had to push back
Ermilisa's Baptismal date. There are some things that need to be taken
care of before she can be baptized so we had to cancel for August 29th.
Sister Owens and I were pretty bummed and didnt know how to break the
new to her. Ermilisa was totally fine with it. She has such strong
faith and trust in God's timing. That brought so much comfort to Sister
Owens and I.
Sister Wood
Well
this week was pretty slow until the end. Time is super weird when your
on a mission. The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days.
We have been trying to do a lot of finding this week now that we have
the area all organized. We had dinner with some members this week, so
that was good that we got fed! The ward isn't too good at feeding us
missionaries unfortunately. But we make it work.
We were out tracting in a neighborhood and there was a cute little pond. So Sister Owens and I decided to take a break from the knocking and take some pictures of the pond for a few minutes. While we were taking pictures, these ducks started flying in and just hung out around us. So of course, I had to share the Restoration with this duck. He too, did not want to listen along with the rest of the neighborhood :) Oh well, it give me practice haha.
We were out tracting in a neighborhood and there was a cute little pond. So Sister Owens and I decided to take a break from the knocking and take some pictures of the pond for a few minutes. While we were taking pictures, these ducks started flying in and just hung out around us. So of course, I had to share the Restoration with this duck. He too, did not want to listen along with the rest of the neighborhood :) Oh well, it give me practice haha.
We have a ton of potential investigators that we are trying to contact
and set up appointments with. Our area is HUGE, so that makes for a
long day when we are trying to get in with potentials. It was raining
one day while we were doing some contacting, so i just had to get a
picture with my handy dandy umbrella.
Sunday
was by far the best day of the week though!! ERMIILISA CAME TO
CHURCH! She was so happy to be there. She loved every minute of it.
She said she hadn't been to church since 2010. And she didn't feel
comfortable attending the church she did, so she left mid-service. It
seemed as though this sunday was meant just for her! The talks were great as well as the lessons. Heavenly Father knew that she would come to church that sunday
so he made it a special experience just for her! The spirit was so
strong, and Ermilisa was just taking it all in. She will not be going
out of town for another month so we are planning to see her multiple
times a week.
She calls Sister Owens and I her angels
because we have helped her change her life. Its so great to see the
light within her brighten! I'm so excited for her and her decision to
come closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. 
Being a missionary is so rewarding at times! Its definitely hard work
though. It has pushed me to my limits in every aspect. But that is how
Heavenly Father molds us into the people he knows we can become. We
just have to rely on him and have faith that he knows what is best for
us, because he does. He know what we need before we do.
I
sure love being a missionary in Florida even if its hot and humid. I
can sweat for the savior though, because he sweat for me!
Love,
Sister Wood
Well
this week was an interesting one at that! I had been sick this past
week and found out that I have Bronchitis and a sinus infection. Great
fun! haha not really. I have had no voice for going on five days now.
Its really hard to be a missionary when you don't have a voice to help
teach. People just look at you funny haha its great!
On a
happier note, I got to have an interview with President Smith this
week! He is such an awesome president! The love that he has for all of
his missionaries is unreal! President and Sister Smith are such great
people and great examples to me. President Smith helped boost my
confidence a bit by telling me that I did not seem like a 6 week old
missionary! He said he was super proud of me and the work that Sister
Owens and I are doing. So that was a huge confidence booster! :)
Sister Smith gave Sister Owens and I temple recommend holders that have
the theme of our mission on it, which is North Side Strong. That was
super awesome!!
After interviews, Sister Owens and I
were having lunch at our apartment and the phone started ringing. We
looked, and to our surprise, it was Ermilisa calling!!! She was calling
to tell us that she was back in town for the day and that she wanted to
meet up with us before she headed out of town in the next few hours.
So we finished our lunch quickly and headed over to Ermilisa's.
We
got to her house and she let us in. Ermilisa looked like a completely
different person! She radiated light and was so much happier than the
first time we had met with her. She has been reading out of the Book of
Mormon every day! She loves to read it and told us that she feels such
peace when she reads the word. Sister Owens and I taught her about the
Restoration. Well it was mostly Sister Owens because my voice was
gone... but i chimed in every once in a while as the spirit directed.
Ermilisa was just eating up what we were teaching her! She even asked
if we could give her another Book of Mormon that she could give to her
daughter-in-law. She said that she just wants to share the joy and
peace she feels with everyone!! How awesome is that! She is already
doing missionary work! :) At the end of the lesson, we asked Ermilisa
how she felt about preparing for baptism on the 29 of August. She said that she is willing to do whatever it takes to get to that point!
I am so proud of her and her decision to come closer to our Heavenly Father. He is blessing her with health and strength as she is preparing for baptism. It is truly amazing to see the Lord's hand in her life as well as our work as missionaries.
I am so proud of her and her decision to come closer to our Heavenly Father. He is blessing her with health and strength as she is preparing for baptism. It is truly amazing to see the Lord's hand in her life as well as our work as missionaries.
I am loving my experience so far being a missionary and i see it fit that I share my testimony with y'all.
I know that our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ live! I know that they know and love each one of us individually and infinitely. The plan that our Father in Heaven has is that of perfection. It is centered on his Son Jesus Christ. I know that Christ gave his life for us all to make it possible for us to repent and prepare ourselves to be with God again. We prepare ourselves through faith, repentance, baptism, being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
I know that our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ live! I know that they know and love each one of us individually and infinitely. The plan that our Father in Heaven has is that of perfection. It is centered on his Son Jesus Christ. I know that Christ gave his life for us all to make it possible for us to repent and prepare ourselves to be with God again. We prepare ourselves through faith, repentance, baptism, being worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
I know that Joseph Smith was a true
Prophet of God. He truly did see God the Father and the Son Jesus
Christ. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Gospel of Jesus
Christ was restored through Joseph Smith. I know the Book of Mormon to
be "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." The Book of Mormon is an
incredible book and has brought me closer to my Savior.
We
have a living Prophet today who leads and guides this church. Thomas
S. Monson is a man of God. He receives direct revelation from the Lord
to guide us in these days of turmoil. I am so blessed to have the
privilege to be set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This is the best decision I have
ever made. My mission has changed me so much and I cannot wait to see
what the Lord has in store for the rest of my mission.
I sure love y'all! Have a blessed week!
Sister Wood
3 Attachments
The Joy of Teaching
Sister Wood
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