Faith & Knowledge = Power

Hey Y'all!  

This week has been a rough one. I think sometimes we just highlight the highlights of the week instead of sharing our struggles and how we overcame them.  I dont want y'all to think that things are just a breeze all the time here on the mission.  Honestly, this is the hardest thing i have ever done in so many ways.  However, i wouldn't change it for the world.  Missions are so full of tender mercies. A mission is the hardest thing you will ever love.  To those of you who might be thinking about going on a mission, i want you to know that it is the best thing you can ever do to be deeply converted to the savior.  He needs dedicated servants to hasten his work.  This work is the most important work there is.  It is such a privilege to be part of something so immense, and edifying.  I truly have been changed into a disciple of Christ over the course of my mission, and i know that will continue throughout my life.  So if your thinking about a mission, that is not a coincidence. Deeply consider it, and start preparing now :)  It will change your life! 

So this week was rough, yes, but  I am so grateful for the scriptures, and a very loving and understanding companion. I think some feelings from the past transfer or so have just been building up and finally they all came to the surface. I am grateful for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that it was only through him that i got through this week. 

I have also been having some pretty great studies. I get to studying, and all of a sudden its 9:00! I wish i had more time to study every morning haha. I have been learning a lot about the importance of power in missionary work. Today i leaned how knowledge and faith leads to power. It was a great! This is the verse that sums it all up that i absolutely loved.
Alma 23:6 And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.
That verse is full of so much promise. If we as missionaries teach with power and authority, the people we teach can be converted in such a way that they will never fall away. Also, Preach My Gospel has some great insights as well. "Faith is a principle of power. God works by power, but His power is usually exercised in response to faith (see Moroni 10:7). He works according to the faith of His children. Doubt and fear are opposed to faith.  Your faith will increase through diligent study, prayer,dedicated service, and obedience to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and the commandments. Your faith in Jesus Christ grows as you become better acquainted with Him and His teachings. As you explore the scriptures and search them, you learn of His ways,His love for all people, and His commandments. Faith includes confidence in the mission and power of the Holy Ghost. Through faith you receive answers to your prayers and personal inspiration to guide you in the Lord’s work."

Monday was a pretty swell p day.  We got to hang out with our neighbors, who just happen to be missionaries too! :)  So i have attached some pictures of our adventures.  I may or may not have played beautician for the day.... 

            

On Wednesday, sister Jensen and I hitched a ride to Tallahassee with some other leaders in the mission to attend mission leadership conference. It was amazing.  We talked a lot about how pride prevents us from progressing.  We also talked about how adversity is necessary for us to progress in this life.  Without adversity, we would have no traction.  That was very fitting for my rough week haha.  The spirit really needed to teach me something i guess :)  We summed everything up with building upon the rock of our redeemer.  Which is so great to me, because that is my mission scripture.  President smith is focusing strongly on how we need to be deeply rooted in Christ.  I am seeing now, what i am to learn from president and sister smith. :)  I leaned a lot of lessons of love from the previous president and sister smith, and now i am learning a lot of lessons on the power of knowledge, and making Christ our foundation from the current pres. smith.  So now i have my own rock to be reminded of where my foundation should lie. 

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After a wonderful MLC, we had exchanges with the Troy Sisters. I was with Sister Adams in Troy. It was a great exchange!  I learned a lot about diligence and hard work from sister Adams.  She is awesome! :)  And they have a huge book of mormon just chilling in their apartment haha 

Everything is going well with sister Jensen and i. We are really growing in unity. We are really excited to see how this area grows as we do our best to be obedient, and find those prepared individuals to teach.

We are loving it here in Dothan!  

Hope yall have a blessed week!!

Love, Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

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Melissa Wood	12:04 PM (2 hours ago)
to dandelionvolta., deshkaolson, gdonaldson, suzykd, thellyjelly, tinamariepierc., wvaughnjunior, Alexis, Alyssa, anna, Aria, Branden, butterfly_soul., Carl, Carolin, Casey, Cornelia, Crystal, Da, Dad, Darlene, Darrin, dave, Dion, Dona

Also, here is a video from MLC. President and Sister Smith are awesome! 

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 MAH03846.MP4

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Here are the lyrics of my new favorite song haha

My feet are planted on The Rock,
No evil wind will knock me off
Up here it’s clear just what is true,
I’m on The Rock how about you?
Get on The Rock,
You’ll like the view.

Well sometimes the road we take is filled with ruts,
And your eyesight can get a little dim.
But you can make it thru, If you just remain true.
And every day you sing this little hymn.

Well sometimes it seems like you don’t measure up,
And that can make you feel a little blue.
You can make it to the end with the Savior as your Friend.
And don’t forget to smile, because it’s true!!

Get on The Rock!

Sister Wood 

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Rooted in Christ

Hey Y'all!!

This week has been a busy one to say the least.  We had two exchanges with sisters this week.  Those were a blast!  Tuesday I exchanged with Sister Robinson.  I was a slacker and forgot to take pictures.  We were planning to, but forgot to later.  Oh well, i will just have to get one with her tomorrow at district meeting. My exchange with Sister Robinson went really well.  Weird connection with Sister Robinson, She was companions with my trainer, Sister Owens, and companions with Sister Porter.  So we pretty much know each other's life stories, with out ever meeting each other.. YIKES.  We had a great lesson with an Investigator, Eli.  He is such a ham.  Probably the smartest 9 year old i have ever met.  We taught him about Christ's earthly ministry, and the great apostasy.  He seemed to enjoy it.  He knows a lot about Christ's life. Its amazing to me how much he knows.  He just wants to get closer to Christ, it's so inspiring!  

Sister Robinson and I had a couple exchange miracles.  We were able to see people that we haven't been able to get up with in a really long time.  It was such a tender mercy.  These people have such potential to progress, we just have to get schedules coordinated.  We had our last lesson with Debbie.  That was so sad.  It was hard to say goodbye. But i know that i will be in touch with her forever.  She has just touched my life in a way that no one else could.  I just hope and pray that missionaries come in contact with her in St. Pete.  Wednesday, we all helped Debbie get packed up and ready to head to St. Pete.  She made it there safely and is already loving it.  She is amazing :)  I will definitely be missing her.  

(sister Robinson is right behind me in the picture )

Wednesday night, the Lead STL's, Sister Hannig, and Sister Smoot spent the night with us, and had a conference call with President Smith, and all the STL's in the mission Thursday morning.  It was great to see them and learn from all the sisters in the conference call.  I came out with Sister Smoot, so it was nice to be around her again!  It brought back some MTC memories haha.  Sister Hannig served in Dothan for about 9 months, so she was happy to be back to visit for a minute.  

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Thursday was a pretty rough day. But we got through it :)  Cookies make everything better :) We did our best to get through as much planning as we could, but sister Jensen wasn't feeling well.   The Dothan 2 ward Sisters came over to start their exchange Thursday night.  Last P-Day we all bought matching moo-moos.  It was some great times haha thought y'all would get a kick out of that :)  I spent all day Friday with Sister Porter!  It was super great!  Felt like we were companions again.  #blessings!  We celebrated her year mark with lunch at Texas Roadhouse.  It was yummy :)  Cant believe she has been out a year!  That means Sister Peterson has been out a year too!! #happybirthdayy'all!

Sister Porter and I had a great day!  We just picked up where we left off :)  it was great!  Lots of laughs and reminiscing about Bonifay :) We had great lessons, and even greater talks :)  It was a fabulous exchange! 

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The rest of the week was just as crazy as the beginning.  We had some really good lessons with a few investigators.  We have this Family History investigator that is Jewish, but he loves family history!!  The spirit of Elijah was really working on him!  It was neat to see!  Also, we had a great lesson with little Eli.  He loves to learn about the Gospel.  We reviewed prophets with him.  He totally knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Its pretty great!  He just needs to be baptized already.  This is my favorite part of our lesson yesterday... 

me: "Eli, lets just say that you read the Book of Mormon, and Heavenly Father tells you that it is true, what are you going to do next?"

Eli: "keep reading it.." 

I was implying that he needs to get baptized, but reading the book of Mormon is good too :)  We also had a great lesson with Joe!  He is a newer investigator.  We got eaten up my doggone mosquitoes, but it was totally worth it.  I love how the spirit testifies of truth.  Joe was totally feeling it yesterday.  Yesterday was the second time that Joe asked me if he had met me before.  I told him maybe we knew each other before haha :) 

Yesterday we had dinner with the Durfee family.  She made Chile Verde Burritos.  It was AMAZING!  She then took us to the hospital to see a less active that just had her baby.  Sister Jensen had not seen down town dothan, so we stopped down town to get some pictures :)  Enjoy!

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This week i have been really focusing on my studies.  Personal Study is the designated time that i can study for the individual purposes for the sisters and their exchanges.  In my studies this week, i learned how important it is to just be myself, and to be a follower of Christ.  The only way i can be an effective leader at all is if i am a Christ like leader.  That requires me to be a follower of Christ.  I learned so much from the conference call, and my studies over the the course of the week.  My studies all just wound together testified to me that i need to be deeply rooted in Christ.  That is the only way i can experience the blessing of lasting happiness and peace in this life.  As i more fully root myself in Christ, i know i will be given the strength and ability through his atonement to overcome the storms of life.  I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and his atonement.  I know he lives, and i know that it is through him that we can do all things.  

Y'all have a blessed week and know that Sister Wood LOVES y'all! :) 

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

Melissa Wood	11:26 AM (3 hours ago)
to dandelionvolta., deshkaolson, gdonaldson, suzykd, thellyjelly, tinamariepierc., wvaughnjunior, Alexis, Alyssa, anna, Aria, Branden, butterfly_soul., Carl, Carolin, Casey, Cornelia, Crystal, Da, Dad, Darlene, Darrin, dave, Dion, Dona

Also, quick update on this guy!  Lee is planning to get baptized in a couple weeks!  Its amazing how he has changed, and faced this opposition, and still come out smiling!  

"Smiling is like saying you know Jesus!" 

-Lee Phillips
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Sister Wood 

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I cannot believe that a seven week transfer has come and gone.  Time continues to move forward and a very fast pace.  I look back and think, "how in the world has it already been 10 transfers?!"  So much has happened, and continues to happen.  Heavenly Father is so aware of his children.  They are all precious to him.  

Time is a precious thing for us.  Especially when we are on the Lord's time.  That is why it is so important to " Be where you are."  If not, we are just wasting away the lord's precious time. That leads me into what i learned from my companion this transfer. As i observed, and worked around Sister Rindlisbacher, I was able to learn a lot.  She is just so kind, generous, and thoughtful.  One thing I love, is how careful she was in the work.  She knew that we are on the lord's time and treated it as such.  We learned many lessons of love as we worked with all the sisters this transfer.  But the most important thing i learned from my companionship with Sister Rindlisbacher was the importance of "being where i am." 

John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

John 4:34-36 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

These scriptures helped me realize that i don't need to be worried about earthly/ worldly things. Like what my plans are for when i get home. I am here to help harvest the field.  I need to do the will of the lord, and right now, his will is for me to lose myself in his fields that are white, already to harvest. 

As we do the will of the Lord, we are showing our faith in him.  When we show our faith, the lord then blesses us with Tender Mercies.  This transfer, i have been so blessed to experience a lot of tender mercies.  One of them being able to teach very prepared people.  There have been so many times that the spirit has witnessed to me that these people have been prepared for receiving this wonderful message of the restored gospel at this time.  I absolutely love the people here in dothan.  They are just sweet souls.  I am so blessed to have the privilege of meeting these people and teaching them about their savior.  

I am so grateful for this gospel.  I don't know where i would be in this life without this restored gospel.  I would probably be hopeless.  I know i wouldn't be happy, or optimistic in life at all.  Jesus Christ, and his gospel give me so much hope.  I know that it is through our savior that we can overcome all things.  He knows us.  He knows that we are weak, but the miraculous thing is that he wants to help us, because he knows how we feel.  He has already suffered those things for us.  All we must do is believe, and show our faith through our works.  

This week was a great one.  It was super busy with packing, traveling, and unpacking.  It was tough to say goodbye to yet another companion, but i have a new one to love and learn from :)  Everyone, this is sister Jensen.  She is from Burly Idaho.  She has been out 6 months on her mission. So she is keeping things fresh!  She just got done training a sister in Toxey Alabama, and is now here in Dothan with me.  

Also, i got to see Sister Peterson, the first sister i trained.  I am so grateful to her and all that i learned from her.  I am also grateful for her patience with me as we learned and grew together :)  

Y'all have a blessed week!  

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Sister Melissa Jean Wood

>	)

#strugglebus

Hey Y'all!

Hope y'all have had a great week! Things have been pretty crazy!  It
was the 6th week of 7 of the transfer.  So we got transfer news.
Sadly, Sister Rinds is leaving me.  But the cool thing is that she is
being transferred to PENSACOLA!!  She is going to my first area! So i
am pretty excited about that.  I have been telling her all about it.
I am so excited for her!!

My new companion will be Sister Jensen.  To be honest i don't know
much about her.  All i know is that she has been out about 4 months.
So that will be exciting. I am slightly nervous to be leading out the
area, especially as an STL.  We will still have 6 sets of sisters and
this coming transfer is just a 6 week transfer. So we will be going on
an exchanges every week of not twice a week.  Also, a sister i was in
the MTC with, Sister Smoot,  just became the lead STL in Tallahassee.
So that will be fun to go on exchanges with her :)  She will do great!

So here are some stories to explain the #STRUGGLE-BUS...

Wednesday Sister Rinds and I got to attend MLC (mission leadership
council).  We all meet up at a transfer spot and ride up to crest-view
together.  Well while we were at the transfer spot, i was just
conversing with some sisters, and i all of a sudden feel this pain in
my had.  So i look down at my hand, and there is a black wasp stinging
me.  I have never been stung by a bee or a wasp before... so i had no
idea if i was allergic or not.  So i had to ride in this transfer van
a hour up to crest-view with my hand just hurting so bad.  Luckily the
church had ice.  So i iced my hand for a good while.  It was pretty
awkward to lift my red, swollen hand to shake hands with president
smith when he arrived at the meeting.  Yikes.   So i sat in this
meeting all day with my right hand just aching, stinging, and
swelling, while i had to take good notes to be prepared for a zone
training.  So that was the first struggle of the week.  The lord truly
blesses us though.  We got home from our meeting, and one of the
members saw that i got stung, so she took us to the store to get
everything i needed to take care of it.  Also, one of the sisters in
our complex had essential oils, so she gave me an oil that is supposed
to be really good for bites and stings.  She saved my life :)
#blessings

Saturday, we helped one of our investigators put together a Squirrel
house.  That was an adventure for sure.  I had to hold the latter
while the house was being put up in the tree. i was wearing Capri's
and so my ankles got eaten up by mosquito's.  yikes.  Also, after we
were done putting up the squirrel house, we grabbed some lunch from
Wendy's .  Well I thought i had gotten all the stuff we ordered... but
as i was driving away, the guy at the window asks us if we wanted our
"drank" as his voice fades away.  So we stop, and sister rinds decides
to get out of the car and walk to the window to get the drink.  So i
snapped some pictures :)  Pretty great.

Another struggle was when we found out that sister Rinds was leaving
this week.  So that is pretty much a bummer.

So Sunday was the biggest struggle.  We found out that our favorite
investigator, Lee, dropped his baptismal date.  I guess what happened
was that Lee posted on Facebook how excited he was to be getting
baptized in the true church, how much he loves god, and how grateful
he is to the sisters that have been teaching him.  Well apparently,
his pastor, and his family saw it, and they called for an
intervention.  They met with him and pretty much bashed with him for
two hours.  Lee texted the sisters on Sunday morning and told them
that he couldn't meet with them anymore.  So that was really sad.
Please keep Lee in your prayers. He really needs them.

There is one thing about this week that i have loved.  The Gospel
hasn't changed.  It has gotten me through all these awkward moments.
I am so grateful to have the knowledge of the true church.  It is
unchanging.  It is infinite and eternal.  This gospel has blessed my
life in so many different ways, especially my family's life.  I am so
grateful to have the opportunity to see people change and find new
life as they come unto the Savior Jesus Christ.  The love that we gain
for the people we teach is amazing.  I know that our Savior knows us
and loves us.  It is his atoning sacrifice that makes it possible for
us to overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings.  We can get through
our trials and tribulations as we rely on the savior, and do all we
can to be a witness of him.

I love this gospel, and I love y'all!
Have a blessed week!

Sister Melissa Jean Wood

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Exchange Adventures

Hey Y'all!

So things here in sweet home Alabama are just rocking!   We had
exchanges with the Dothan 2nd ward sisters, and the Mariana Sisters
this week.  I love going on exchanges because i get to learn so much
from the other sisters.  Its awesome!

Our exchange with the Dothan 2 Sister's was great!  We had a slumber
party at our apartment.  We got up and went for a nice stroll around
the complex and in the neighboring cemetery. Made a super nice
breakfast.  It was yummy.  Pancakes, cinnamon rolls, eggs, and grits!!
 It was meant to be!  I secretly was also celebrating my 14 month
mark.  It was great!  I got to spend the day with Sister Jenkins.  She
is literally one of the sweetest sisters ever!  We had a crazy visit
with a less active sister.  She barely let us get a word in. But when
we did, she was very grateful that we came.  We were also able to see
a couple other less active sisters.  The lessons went super well.  We
talked about the Articles of Faith with one of them, and Prayer with
the other.  They loved it.  Later that evening, after dinner, we went
to the blood drive at the church.  We decided it was a good idea to
give blood, and not only save spiritual lives, but physical lives as
well. :)  The lady that was helping me totally missed my vein in my
left arm, so we tried a second time with my right arm.  We finally got
it.  So i successfully donated blood for the third time in my life.  I
didn't pass out this time.   Thank the heavens!!

For the Mariana exchange, I was with Sister Whatcott.  She is another
sweet human being.  Its great!  I so loved spending the day with her
and getting to know her.  Both her and Sister Jenkins have only been
out for 5.5 weeks in the field, but you would never guess.  They are
top notch missionaries. Sister Whatcott and I had some great lessons
with some less active members as well.  We did some service for one of
our family history investigators, Kay.  She is super sweet!  The
people that i have met on my mission are so sweet, and so loving. They
would literally do anything for anyone.  Lessons of Love in the
mission that is for sure!  It was cool to be on exchanges with the
Mariana sisters, because they are all sister Rindlisbacher's
posterity.  Sister Rinds trained sister Perrett, who trained sister
Polanco, who is now training sister Whatcott.  So that is just
awesome!

Sunday was amazing this week.  Sacrament meeting answered so many
prayers!  Our investigator, Debbie, even came to church!  We got a new
awesome investigator on Sunday as well. His name is Eli.  He is 9
years old.  He is probably one of the most prepared people i have ever
taught.  He wants to know anything and everything he can about baptism
and getting closer to Jesus Christ.  His questions were just amazing.
I cannot believe that he is only 9 years old and has all these insane
questions.

This week has been great.  I love the mission.  I love the Lord. I
know that he lives and loves us.  He wants nothing but the best for
us.  We must do but one thing to qualify for the power of his infinite
atonement. Mosiah 4:9-12

9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things,
both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all
power, both in heaven and in earth;believe that man doth not
comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins andforsake
them, and humble yourselves before God; and askin sincerity of heart
that he would forgive you; and now, ifyou believe all these things see
that ye do them.

 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have
come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his
goodness and have tasted of his love,and have received a remission of
your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls,
even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in
remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his
goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and
humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name
of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which
is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always
rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a
remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the
glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is
just and true.

Love yall!  Have a blessed week!
Sister Melissa Jean Wood

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