Make and Keep Sacred Covenants

Hey Y'all!  This week has just been crazy.  The last week of the transfer always seems to go by super fast. It is just crazy to think that a transfer with Sister Richins has already come and gone! YIKES!  The transfer that starts today, will only be a 5 week transfer.  So that will be fun to combine all of the last part of 12 week training into the last 5 weeks.  But Sister Richins is a trooper!  We are so glad to be staying here in Bonifay for at least the next 5 weeks.  I have come to the conclusion that I never want to leave Bonifay.  It is the promised land.  Especially because I have grown and changed so much here.  I never want to leave.  MONDAY was just great.  we got a lot done.  I love productive preparation days.  We were able to see some potential investigators and just talk to them briefly. So hopefully their hearts will continue to be softened.  TUESDAY we had a great District meeting.  We had a "District Inventory" and then played Missionary Jeopardy.  I totally whooped them all :)  Then after district meeting, we, and  the greenhead sisters, went to hardy's to grab a bite to eat.  It was quite yummy :)  We then traveled to the distant land of Caryville, to see our dear recent convert Liz.  We had a great lesson with her about the Ten Commandments.  I just love seeing how much Liz continues to grow and flourish in her knowledge of the Gospel.  Now if we could only get her to come to church every week...   After Liz, we tried to see some less active members that live in her area.  Not a ton of success, but we are beginning to realize how large our area really is.  I am just directionally challenged, so it takes me a while to get stuff like that haha.  We ended up having a great member present lesson with our investigator, Lauren, and her less active husband, Daniel.  They are expecting their first baby on July 28th.  So they are experiencing all sorts of new things.  I am so happy for them, and hope they decide to be an eternal family :)  Lauren is well on her way to baptism, its just getting her hubby to get more involved so they can be active together.   Its going to take a bit of time, but the spirit is working on them :)  We had a lesson with our other investigator, Robert.  He is doing well.  He is suffering from some health issues, but he will get through it.  He is such a great guy!  WEDNESDAY  was a good day. We went to see Steve,and found out that he does not believe in proxy baptisms, and that is what is holding him back from being an active member.  So we committed him to read and study the plan of salvation pamphlet in preparation for our next lesson.  Hopefully as he does that, he will receive some answers on his own.  We were able to see one of our other investigators, Rosa.  Before, she wasn't too open to the gospel, so we were just planning on going the family history route.  But when we got to her apartment, she came out and she opened the restoration pamphlet right to Joseph Smith's first vision. It was pretty great.  We couldn't really get a word in. So next week we will start the lesson :)  We saw another investigator, Tina.  She is doing okay.  Just going through a really rough time now that her husband left her and her three teeage children.  But she is very open minded, and has a great relationship with the savior.  We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation, and she committed to June 18th as her Baptismal date.  We are hoping we can stick to that date :)  This transfer is going to be awesome!  THURSDAY  was the infamous weekly planning day.  We ended up dropping some more investigators that just are not willing to keep their commitments, ad change.  But the Lord has shown us that when we do that, he will bless us with prepared people to teach.  After planning, we went to the nursing home to serve some ice cream.  That was fun as always. I need to be better at taking pictures of that.  Thursdays are mostly just filled with planning all that jazz.  FRIDAY was a good day as well. We volunteered at the thrift store, and then had 12 week training afterwards. Sister Richins is just an awesome missionary.  I love discussing the basics of missionary work with her because she just gets it :)  Our appointment with Liz cancelled, so we decided to go see some Less active members.  After which, we had dinner with Tammy.  SATURDAY was a full day, so we thought.  We had planned to see a ton of less active members, but none of them were home.  So that was a struggle.  we ended up seeing a couple families that have been on our minds lately. So that was a blessing.  We went to the church and did some family history with Tammy.  That is always a blast.  Saturday night the ward had a pot luck for Sister Evans.  She just returned from the St. George Utah mission.  Her first area was Price 'Merica!!!  So I totally knew her before I was a sister. Now I am serving in her home ward.... its a small world afer all.  It was fun to hear how she described price.  I'm pretty sure her word choice was... "Ugly old, mining town." haha I just laughed.  SUNDAY was awesome!  We had a great lesson with another recent convert, Mikayla. She just graduated from high school this week.  She is just the best.  We had a great sacrament meeting and gospel principles class.  Sister Richins and I taught the lesson in relief society.  That went pretty well we thought.  Sister Richins is a professional teacher, and she didn't even tell me.  haha sneak.  We had a great lesson with Tina.  Sister Driscoll came with us this time and it went really well.  We also had a great lesson with Robert.  He is just coming right along.  I am just so grateful I get to stay her at least another transfer!  This week I have been basing my studies on the covenants we make at baptism.  I love how simple they are, but how many blessings we can receive when we keep them.  The covenants we make are sacred, and we should strive to remember them daily.   Baptismal covenants are just so amazing to me.  I love that we have to opportunity to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, Always remember Him, and Keep his commandments.  As we remember those things in our daily lives, we are better able to be disciples of Christ.  We will have a greater desire to be like him.  That desire leads us to repent daily, and partake of the sacrament weekly.  I love this gospel so much.  I have been changed by this restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love sharing this unique and simple message with whomever we meet.  I hope that yall can take a moment each day to remember and ponder the covenants we have all made at baptism.  Pay close attention to the feelings you have and the thoughts that come to mind.  When we draw close to the savior thorugh remembering our covenants, he draws nearer to us.  Yall have a blessed week! Love, Sister Melissa Jean Wood  4 Attachments Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 0.6 GB (4%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 3 days ago Details

Testimony vs. Conversion

Hey Y'all!  I sure hope y'all are doing well and life is treating ya well!  This week has been super duper crazy.  Lots of interesting days, but in the end, the Lord always seems to help us remember that He is the Author of all that is great.  MONDAY was definitely and adventure.  After emailing, and cleaning the car, we headed out to Falling Waters State Park with Tammy.  We had a blast eating subway and going on a "hike" lol.  This waterfall is the tallest in Florida. A whopping 322 feet above sea level :) Oh how I miss the mountains haha.  We had a ton of fun though.  After falling waters, we had a yummy dinner with the Driscolls.  They are so sweet!  Brother Driscoll always has some jokes for us :)  They only make sense to southerners though lol.  "What was the Three wise men's occupation?  Firemen, because they came from a-far."  haha good times.  Never a dull moment with the Driscolls :)  We also had an awesome lesson with our investigator, Pete.  He is just the sweetest man you will ever meet.  He lost the love of his life a while back, and just continues to do his best so that he can live with her again.  It is going to be so great to have the opportunity to teach him the message of the Plan of Salvation.  We will be teaching him that tomorrow.  TUESDAY was all sorts of fun :)  We had another zone training.  So Sister Richins and I picked up the Greenhead Sisters, and we carpooled to Panama City for the meeting.  Fun times :)  This zone training was pretty random, seeing as we had already had one the first week of the transfer.  But the things that were taught were awesome.  We learned about the "Prayer Technique."  It is basically making it so the investigator feels the need to say they prayer, because it would be more awkward for them not to since we are already folding our arms, bowing our heads, and waiting patiently for them to say the prayer.  Lets just say that things can get real awkward real fast in missionary work.  But I was always taught that if its not awkward, its not missionary work :)  After our Zone training, we ate at Barbaritos.  Apparently its supposed to be like café rio..... but nothing compares to café rio lol. It was still pretty good though.  We saw a less active sister on our way home from panama.  It was great to see her reaction to us coming out to see her.  (she lives right smack dab in the middle of no where)  But it was great to see her and we plan to see her again soon.  After a short dinner, we headed out to have a lesson with another investigator, Robert.  He is an awesome guy.  He is taking things slow, but I love it because it helps us to remember to teach simply and powerfully.  We used the prayer technique to get him to pray :)  It was great!! We also had a great lesson on the plan of salvation with Tammy!  It so great to get a refresher of the simple doctrines in the Gospel.  WEDNESDAY was a busy day.  We had a great lesson with Ariel that morning.  We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and talked about how the savior loves all of God's Children.  We also got her to pray using the Prayer Technique.  Which is a huge milestone, because she always refuses to pray in front of us.  We volunteered at the thrift store and bagged up some pizza.  While we were there, we met our new Investigator, Tina.  She is such a sweet lady that is going through such a difficult time in her life.  Heavenly Father definitely placed us on her path.  We had a great lesson on Family History with a Less active brother, Steve.  He is pretty interested, and we hope to help him get started this week!  THURSDAY was another one of those dear weekly planning days.  We ended up dropping a few investigators that just weren't progressing.  We know that the Lord has a time for everything and everyone.  We just need to do our best to find those people who are ready and willing to change now.  We went to the nursing home to help serve ice cream.  It was awesome because it was national CNA and Nurse Appreciation day, so they had Banana Splits.  It was fun to see all the residents and staff having a good time.  Later, we had a great dinner with Tammy!  We even made s'mores for dessert.  Tammy had never had a s'more before, so we had to convert her :)  FRIDAY we were able to once again volunteer at the thrift store.  We met our newest investigator there.  Her name is Gayle.  She came to the back and said hello, and began working on tagging and hanging up the clothes.  We asked her her name and how long she was going to be volunteering there.  Then when we told her that we were "sister wood, and sister richins"  she stopped right in her tracts, and said " Your with God! God has answered my prayers today!"  It was awesome.  We later had dinner with the Holley's at the Waffle House.  That was an exciting experience for sister richins :)  SATURDAY we had planned to see like a million people (okay, like thirteen..)  And it seemed like everywhere we went no one was home, or they weren't interested.  Finally we decided to go see Tina, who wasn't an investigator at this point. We get there, and her kids tell us she isn't home.  Then, discouraged, we walk back to the car and begin to drive away. All of a sudden we see her daughter running towards us yelling that her mom was home. So we parked the car and headed back to the house.  Tina said she had been in the back yard behind some trees praying, and so that is why her kids did not know where she was.  We shared a message about Christ, and committed her to read through the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet, as well as the introduction to the Book of Mormon. She said she would, and is excited to learn.  We said a prayer with her.  In which the spirit bore a powerful witness that heavenly father was very mindful of Tina.  It was amazing.  What made it even better, is that we had Tammy with us.  She is just such an awesome member missionary.  She shared her testimony with Tina, and helped Tina to feel loved.  SUNDAY was just awesome.  I always love Sundays.  We had a lesson with Mikayla, a recent convert. We talked with her about temples and family history.  She is excited to get started.  Sacrament meeting was insane.  I love when the talks seem to be just for you.  Everything that was talked about seemed to help me with the things I have been thinking about lately.  They all talked about Conversion.  The last speaker, brother Carroll of the high council, spoke on Conversion vs. Testimony.  It was so neat.  I loved it.  After church we spent some time doing family history with tammy.  I love family history!!!!  we later went to see Gayle.  We visited with her and showed her the Hallelujah video.  She is such a strong woman.  We can't wait to meet with her again this week!  The highlight of my week though was the epiphany I had during sacrament meeting that carried over into my studies this morning.  I had the chance to study in Helaman 15.  It talks about the process that we have to go through continually to receive conversion.  Conversion is not just a single moment that takes place in our lives.  It is happens "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little."  What is neat though is that it all starts with our testimonies.  But our testimonies can only get us so far.  If we are not converted to Christ, and His gospel, there are ways and means that we are capable of losing our testimonies.  But if we strive to be diligent in repentance, prayer, studying the scriptures, and relying on the lord, our conversion will begin to take place.  I love the verse in Luke that talks about how once we are converted, we are to strengthen our brethren.  Our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, place a sacred trust in us all to stand as witnesses, and strengthen each other.  I absolutely love participating in this glorious and divine work.  It is amazing to see people change their lives as they accept Christ into their lives.  There is no greater feeling in the world than seeing someone have faith, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost.  Heavenly Father loves all His children, and I get just a small glimpse of how.  We all can feel that love as we strive to be diligent in our personal prayer, scripture study, and church attendance. Y'all have a blessed week! Love, Sister Melissa Jean Wood  9 Attachments Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 0.65 GB (4%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 3 days ago Details

The Impact of Mothers

This week has been awfully strange.  A ton of just random, odd things have happened to Sister Richins  and I.  But the highlight of the week definitely has to be face-timing with my lovely family.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family who love and support me on this once in a lifetime experience. 

I am most grateful for my mother. As I contemplated all of the wonderful and important things my mother has taught me in my lifetime, I couldn't help but think about the story of the 2000 stripling warriors who were strong and courageous, but also obedient to the commandments of the Lord because their mothers had taught them those things from their youth. 

I too have a mother who taught me from my youth to keep the commandments of the Lord, and strive to be obedient in all that I do.  I am who I am because of my mother. 

I also found my thoughts wandering back to the beautiful words Elder  Jeffery R. Holland spoke in last October General Conference about the similarity between mothers and the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. 

"Bear, borne, carry, deliver. These are powerful, heartening messianic words. They convey help and hope for safe movement from where we are to where we need to be—but cannot get without assistance. These words also connote burden, struggle, and fatigue—words most appropriate in describing the mission of Him who, at unspeakable cost, lifts us up when we have fallen, carries us forward when strength is gone, delivers us safely home when safety seems far beyond our reach. “My Father sent me,” He said, “that I might be lifted up upon the cross; … that as I have been lifted up … even so should men be lifted up … to … me.”

But can you hear in this language another arena of human endeavor in which we use words like bear and borne, carry and lift, labor and deliver? As Jesus said to John while in the very act of Atonement, so He says to us all, “Behold thy mother!”

Today I declare from this pulpit what has been said here before: that no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child. When Isaiah, speaking messianically, wanted to convey Jehovah’s love, he invoked the image of a mother’s devotion. “Can a woman forget her sucking child?” he asks. How absurd, he implies, though not as absurd as thinking Christ will ever forget us."

I think we can all look back on a moment in our lives where we have either been lifted when we have fallen, carried when our strength is gone, and brought safely home by our dearest mother, who loves us more that words can describe.  As I have thought about the impact my mother has had on me, I realize that she has taught me a very important eternal truth.  The Love she shows to her family is the same type of infinite love the savior has for each one of us.  He too, lifts, carries, encourages, and bois us up when we are in a time of need, or desperation.  He is our advocate with the father.  The one person that makes it possible for us to repent daily, and be forgiven;To pray for strength to get through a rough patch in life.  He is on our right hand and on our left.  He will always be there for us, just like our mothers. 
I am so grateful to have the knowledge of the Savior and his atonement.  I am even more grateful that I am able to experience just a small portion of the love he has for us as I compare it to the love that our mothers have for their children. 
Thank you to all the wonderful women in my life who have made the choice to be mothers.  The impact you have on the lives of your children are immense.  You make all the difference in the world. "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."
I know that we can overcome anything when we have the Lord and our mothers on our side.  From the wise words of my own mother to you:
 " YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS."
Sure love y'all!  Have a blessed week :)
Love,
Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

10 Attachments

Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward

0.65 GB (4%) of 15 GB used

Manage

Terms - Privacy

Last account activity: 18 hours ago

Details

Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts, and Connect Generations.

Hey Y'all!  I hope y'all have had a fabulous week!  This week has been pretty crazy here in Bonifay. My goodness, I cannot believe that one year ago I was just three weeks away from heading to the MTC.  That was quite the roller-coaster of emotions haha. I really felt bad for those who had to get on that roller-coaster and didn't have a ticket...lol It is even crazier to think that I have been a full time sister missionary for 11 months!!  YIKES I have experienced a lot of emotions this week as well.  What I love though, is that I always learn from these experiences. What got me through this week though, was much prayer, fasting, and diving into the scriptures.  Monday was just a regular preparation day.  We got a lot done, thank goodness.  I think the amount of things we get done on preparation day determines the attitude we have for the rest of the week.  We grocery shopped at the Piggly Wiggly.  Sister Richins had never heard of one, so that was an adventure.  We got the apartment clean, and laundry done.  It was quite the exciting day haha.  I even had time to bake us some chocolate chip cookies! :)   But later on in the evening, we had dinner with Bishop and Sister Ard, and Brother and Sister Holley.  They are both such cute little families.  We had Pizza and salad.  Not to mention all the desserts that were brought as well.  Sister Holley shared a neat story about Family History.  As I have become more familiar with the "how to" of Family History, my love for this glorious work has grown so much.  It is neat to hear how missionary work is not only happening here, but on the other side of the veil.  This truly is the Lord's work.  I absolutely LOVE it! Tuesday was a swell day.  We had a really good district meeting.  We talked about integrity, and finding.  You wouldn't think that those two things go together, but the do in so many ways.  All that was said at district meeting was very beneficial.  After district meeting, we had the chance to go out with a couple sisters in the ward.  They attended Time Out for Women a couple weeks ago, and they are just on fire!  They have been visiting all the sisters in the ward so they are able to get to know them and feel more unified as women in the ward.  We had asked if one of them could come with us to see a couple people with us, and it turns out that those two people were on the list of sisters that they had planned to see this week.  So that was such a tender mercy.  We were able to see Liz, and Jenny.  It was awesome to get to see how these tow other sisters were doing their best to strengthen their friendships with other sisters in the ward.  We talked to Liz about temples and family history work.  She has always been gung ho on family history, so this was right up her ally.  We set up a time to help her get a family search account set up for that Friday.   Later on in the evening, we had a great lesson with our investigator, Robert.  He is searching for a lot of peace and truth in his life.  So he is right where he needs to be to receive that.  I just hope and pray that he opens his heart to the promptings of the Holy Ghost as we teach him the discussions.  He has a pretty solid member anchor though.  She is a super awesome member missionary!  She will even share her testimony in lessons we have.  It is amazing.  I love that she can get out and help others come closer to Christ, even when she is going through some of the hardest things anyone could ever go through.  She is super woman!!  Wednesday we were able to volunteer at the thrift store, and bag up some pizza.  Who knew that would be so much fun?  We had a great lesson with a less active brother, Steve.  Because we didn't have another sister with us, we just had to teach him from his porch, through the screen door, as he sat in his recliner in his living room.  As we were discussing a particular verse of scripture, the heavens decided to weep.  It just started coming down.  I couldn't hear a word anyone was saying because it was so loud.  I just about jumped out of my shoes when a clap of thunder followed a bright flash of lightning.  Never a dull moment in Bonifay.  We also got to see our dear Ariel as well. I was super excited about that.  We were even able to talk about the B word... Baptism.  She is a bit hesitant, but she has questions.  That implies she has been thinking about it.  :)  YAY!!!  Our favorite member missionary was kind enough to have us over for dinner, and made us yummy spaghetti!  Thursday was a good day.  We had our weekly planning session in the morning.  But we had an appointment with an investigator, so we ended up finishing weekly planning later.  Our appointment fell through. So we just headed to our next appointment with Ariel.  We had another great discussion about baptism.  She is thinking about it. So she will come around sometime.  She just has a lot of things that get in the way of letting her feel the spirit.  It is the spirit that converts, not the missionary. So it is so hard to teach when the investigator is not letting the spirit teach them.  We had a lot of fun serving ice cream at the nursing home.  I always love going there.  It just brightens my day!  We had a great dinner with some members.  We even got to know more about the needs of the ward and brainstorm about how we can help the members here.  Friday was great.  We started off the day doing Family History with Liz.  She was on fire!  We were able to find a line that went all the way back to 1035!  She is excited to see what else she can learn about her ancestors.  We were even able to find people that she was not aware of.  It was amazing.  We helped some sisters decorate for a baby shower they were throwing for a sister in the ward.  That was a lot of fun :)  We ended up having dinner and the best Mexican restaurant ever!  I wish yall could come to Bonifay and partake of its goodness haha.  Saturday was another good day.  Well all days are good, some are just better than others. Saturday was just super awesome though. Sister Richins and I  both had really good studies that morning.  12 week training ( the extra hour of study we get so I can help train sister richins) was just amazing today.  We were studying in Chapter 9 of PMG.  That chapter is all about different ways we can find people to teach.  Well to make a long story short, I had a really neat experience.  I was pretty much being chastened by the Lord.  I felt so bad.  But what is neat is that the Lord reprimands us with love.  I have never felt so close to the savior like that in studies.  I was just overcome with so many feelings of gratitude, motivation, and self reformation.  The Lord truly knows us and hears our silent prayers.   We were able to spend the rest of the afternoon with our dearest Tammy.  We even made cookies to take to an investigator.  It was awesome.  Sundays are always my favorite though.  Especially fast Sundays.    Fast Sunday's just have a special spirit.  Sacrament meeting was wonderful.  I had the chance to bear  my testimony.  That is always so nerve wracking to me, but the spirit always takes over.  It always works out.  All the testimonies were just so profound.  The brother who is supposed to teach Gospel Principles was not a church, so Sister Richins and I ended up teaching the class.  I love to teach now.  That just goes to show how much the mission has really changed me.  Before, I wouldn't even raise my hand in the class to answer a question, or even actively participate in a discussion.  Now I love to be the one to lead the discussion and ask questions.  Strange.   We talked about tithing and other offerings.  It was perfect, because we were planning on teaching that later this week to one of the sisters that was in the class.  Another tender mercy of the Lord.    After church we did some more family history with Liz and Tammy.  They both seemed to enjoy themselves.  We were able to get Liz's Membership Record Number attached to her account.  She now has about ten names reserved to take to the temple to do baptisms for in June.  She is so excited!  I am so excited for her!  It just felt like all these ancestors of hers were just lined up and waiting for us to find them.  We talked about how all these people have been waiting for her to be baptized, so that she can do proxy baptisms for them!  It was great!  Later on, we had a great lesson with Terra.  We were able to see that she understands a lot about the gospel.  She has the greatest desire to come closer to Christ.  She not only wants that for herself, but for her family.  Her husband is not all in, so that is hard for her to progress because she wants so badly to progress as a family.  I am just so grateful that our Savior knows each of us individually.  He hears our prayers.  I know that as we pray earnestly, with all the energy of heart, we will receive and answer.  It might not always be what we want to hear, but it is always something that will help us to be better.  Luke 22:32 "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."  I know that as we do our best to be converted to the Lord and His gospel, we will then be able to assist in helping others come unto Christ and be perfected in him.  I know that this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, has been restored to the earth.  Because of that restoration, we are able to receive guidance and council from our father in heaven, through his chosen prophets and apostles.  I know that as we desire to change from bad to good, and good to better, Christ will give us the strength we need to get through those difficult changes.  I know Christ lives.  I know that he loves us.  He is the only person that knows exactly what we go through and how we feel when we go through it.  Because of Jesus Christ, we can live again.  We can also live our lives to the fullest, while we are here on the earth, as we follow the savior's example of love and service to others.  Y'all have a blessed week! Sister Melissa Jean Wood 2 Attachments Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward 0.64 GB (4%) of 15 GB used Manage Terms - Privacy Last account activity: 4 minutes ago Details