11 transfers down, 2 more to go!!

Hey Y'all! 

I seriously cannot figure out how the time goes by so quickly.  This transfer flew!  It was a great transfer, and I am excited to reflect on the things that i have learned.   

How my testimony has been strengthened:

 A lot of change happened this transfer.  I got a new companion, there were some new sisters in the zone, and i did a lot of things i have never done before. Like train at a Zone Conference.  I have come to really rely on prayer and scripture study to receive answers.  The glorious thing is that Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need.  He has a plan for us, we just have to be ready and willing to adapt to that plan.  Because i promise, Heavenly Father's plan is much greater than any plan i could make for myself.  This transfer I have been able to trust in heavenly father's plan for me and take leaps of faith in order to do so.  I am grateful also for priesthood blessings that provide clarity and heavenly help.  My testimony is growing stronger and stronger each day.  The word is being nourished daily, and that is what allows my testimony to grow.  

What I have learned from my Companion:

Oh dear.... I just rally LOVE sister Jensen. She just has this great love for all people.  She always finds the good in any situation.  She also has the cutest personality.  Her gospel knowledge amazes me.  She will tell you that she isn't a good teacher. However, whenever she teaches, she teaches with such conviction.  The spirit is always there to testify of the truthfulness of her words.  She is strong willed and humble.  She is always ready and willing to do the lord's will.  She amazes me everyday.  She has become such a great friend and has really taught me how to love people :)  

Tender Mercies:

There are always so many of them!  I am just very grateful for the spirit in this great work.  We have found so many people that are ready and willing to change.  They need the gospel so desperately.  Heavenly Father is aware of them, and has led us to them.  These prepared individuals learn so much so quickly! 

Take Eli for example, he is pretty much teaching us when we have lessons with him.  He is still on board for October 8th as his baptismal day.  Chris is another one who never ceases to amaze.  He is ready to quit smoking and is really excited for his baptismal date on October 22!!  

Prayers have been answered in so many ways.  My dear friend Sister Porter has been here to help cheer me up in times of stress.  All the sisters in the zone are tremendous missionaries.  Every exchange i went on, i learned something new.  Its been great to learn from them.  I have come to really love studying the gospel, in a way that prepares me to teach it to others.  Heavenly Father has given me a glimpse of what he has in store for me and that is the greatest tender mercy of all.  

This transfer has not been all sunshine and rainbows. Heavenly Father allows opposition and adversity to come into our lives because he knows we need to cultivate more faith.  I am so grateful for the challenges of this transfer that have taught me so much.  I know we have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who knows us and will always be there to strengthen us in times of need and desperation.  Prayer is such a gift.  One that i take for granted way too often.  I love to commune with our Father in Heaven and tell him all the things that are difficult and ask for ways that i can improve.  The lord chastens whom he loves.  

This week was so much fun.  I got to see some people that i really missed and loved in Bonifay.  I wish we had more time to see everyone, but we only had a couple of hours to visit.  Woman's conference was fabulous as well!!  The church is true yall!! :)  

Have a blessed week!  Remember who you are, and whose you are :)  

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

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The Dreaded Week 5...

Hey Y'all!  

I hope that this email finds you doing well.  This has been yet another crazy week here in Sweet Home Alabama.  So much happened, its all just a blur.  But i will do my best to share what happened this week :)  

Monday night after all the P-day activities, Sister Jensen and I had a lesson with one of our newer investigators, Chris.  He is so ready for the Gospel.  We taught him about the Restoration, and he absolutely loved it.  He understood all of it.  Also, in the previous lesson we had with him, we had committed him to read the intro to the Book of Mormon, and the Testimonies.  Well, y'all he read all of them.  So he is pretty much a boss.  We were supposed to have a lesson with him again on Wednesday, and Friday nights, but somehow there was some miscommunication with the member that was supposed to have him over, and so we ended up just having a lesson with him on Friday.  I was not able to be there for that lesson, i was in Mariana Florida for exchanges. So that was a bummer.  But from the sounds of it, Chris is just loving the Book of Mormon. He is already up to chapter 9 in first Nephi. He really wants to get Baptized, and he has a date set for October 22!!  He expressed to Sister Jensen and Sister Whatcott that he wants to quit smoking before he gets baptized.  Mind you , we have not said a word about the Word of Wisdom!  I am telling y'all, he is prepared! He came to church on Sunday for all three hours!  He pretty much loved it :)  October 22 here we come!

We decided to switch things up this week and had district meeting in Eufaulla instead of here in Dothan.  So we spent the night with the Eufaulla and Dothan 2 sisters in the warehouse in Eufaulla.  Yes, it is a legit warehouse.... Anyways, District meeting was really good.  We had a lot more participation than usual, so that made for a great meeting.  The district was kind enough to get me a gift for my birthday.  It was pretty fabulous.  They all wrote a little note with some birthday wishes.  That was very thoughtful of them haha.  

After district meeting, we drove to an appointment we had in Headland AL, with our investigators Gloria, Stephanie, and Louise.  Gloria was the only one that made the appointment, but we made good progress with her.  We reviewed the restoration with her, and she remembered most of it.  Her only hesitation is coming to church.  She has been to the dothan 1st ward about three or four times before.  She just has to get back into the swing of things.  She said she would try to make it on Sunday.  That will be a big hurdle for all three of them to get over, that is for sure. After Gloria, we visited a couple of less active sisters, who just happen to be sisters haha. Jean and Dean.  They are the cutest little things ever.  Jean used to be really active, and serve in the temple, but her health has taken a dive, and she hasn't been able to come to church in a long long time.  She loves the missionaries though.  I think that is the only interaction she has with the spirit other than her own personal studies.  She is such a sweet, strong woman.  And she is awesome, because her name is JEAN! :) Later that night we had dinner with the Durfee's.  Brother and Sister Durfee are such solid member missionaries.  And Sister Durfee is a fantastic cook.  She made us some amazing quesadillas and homemade salsa, and tortilla chips. I learn so many cool things when i watch her cook :)  We couldn't stay long though, because we had to meet up with the Geneva sisters for exchanges.  

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I got to spend all day Wednesday with Sister Chase.  She is such a sweet Sister. Some of our plans fell through, but it wouldn't be an exchange if they didn't. haha i got to know Sister Chase a lot more, so that was fun.  She shared a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe with me, so i am actually trying them out today :)  She is currently serving in Geneva Alabama with Sister Shank.  I totally spaced with pictures this week.. so sorry....  But just know that it was a great exchange, and we both learned a lot :) 

Thursdays are the lovely weekly planning days.  We got a good portion of it done before we had to head out for some appointments.  We saw Sister Ney, a less active sister.  She just has some health issues that keep her from coming to church, and she is also hard of hearing. So it is hard for her to get anything out of coming to church.  She has been reading her scriptures everyday though, and you can just see the spirit entering her life again. She is so much happier, and a lot nicer to be around.  haha sorry for y'all who had to be around me pre-mission... i was quite an ornery person haha.  It is amazing to see the change of heart taking place in the people we work with.  It is so neat!! We were also able to see our dearest Marcy this day as well.  She is doing alright.  She has some guy staying with her while he is working on getting his own place.  He is bad news though...So please keep Marcy in y'alls prayers.  She needs the strength!  She is VERY prepared, but the adversary knows that.  So he is working on her as hard as we are.  Later Thursday night we had an exchange with the Mariana Sisters.  I got to go to Mariana with Sister Polanco!  

Exchanges were great!  We were without a car, so we got to walk everywhere!  I got to work on my tan :)  We got to talk to this interesting lady, named Terri.  She was super open to talking to us, then all of a sudden it turned into a bashing session. She was telling us that our church is wrong for "tracking" people, and connecting them to their families.  She doesn't think that Jesus cares about families... so that is awkward.. all we could do was bear simple testimony that Christ did live, and that he loves all of heavenly father's children.  She cut me off in the middle of that, and told me that she believes what Bob Marley says about Jesus, and that her religion is Rastafarian. So that was interesting. I am so grateful to know that we have the restored gospel. That we know that Christ has once again reached out in love to heavenly father's children by choosing a prophet to lead and guide us in this dispensation. I feel so bad for people who refuse to listen to just a sliver of truth when we bear testimony. She wasn't  being belligerent, but she was just being very inconsiderate.  But She is still a child of God and He loves her.  Maybe someday she will open the Book of Mormon that sits in the trunk of her car.  It will change her life if she lets it.  

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Saturday we had a great lesson with little Eli.  He is going through a tough time though. Please keep him in y'alls prayers as well. He is still working towards October 8th for his Baptism date.  Later in the evening, we attended the baptism of one of the elder's investigators. It was a great service.  He was so excited and ready to be baptized.  Its been neat to see how he has progressed to this point.  After the Baptism we got the news for this coming transfer.....Good news is, i am staying in Dothan with Sister Jensen!!  YAY!!!  

Y'all i am absolutely loving dothan!  i cannot believe another transfer has come and gone.  I have learned so much and have come to love all of the people we work with here.  Its a fabulous place.  

Y'all have a blessed week!! :) 

Love,

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

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Hey Y'all!  

So this week was pretty much insane!  Busy Busy Busy.... But it was probably one of the most memorable weeks in the mish.  YAY!! :) Good things are happening in Dothan y'all! If i didn't know any better, i would say that Dothan is the Promised Land.  Here are some pictures for y'all to enjoy and some highlights to go with :)  

Last week we were supposed to go on exchanges with the Lead STL's in Tallahassee, but since there was a hurricane (or something) it got moved to this week.  So Monday night we drove to Tallahassee to be there for our exchange with Sister Smoot and Sister Hannig all day Tuesday.  It went really well.  I love spending time with Sister Smoot!  Its crazy to think that we were in the MTC together... That seems like a lifetime ago.  I am so grateful i got to spend a day with her.  She is a tremendous missionary and we both were edified and strengthened by the spirit.  Which is the whole purpose of the exchange in the first place :)  So we can just say that it was a very successful exchange.  

We ate some pizza from a place called "MOMO's" This slice of pizza is legitimately larger than my face... haha pretty fabulous.  

     
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Wednesday we got to see our favorite little Eli! We taught him the plan of salvation.  It was a lot more intense than we anticipated, but Eli is just an genius.  We just asked him questions about what things were, and he just knew.  His grandma, Sister Ponder, hasn't taught him much of anything of that nature... so he is just a very prepared individual!!  

Later on in the week we met with Eli again. We asked him what he remembered from the last lesson.  He asked if he could draw it.... So the second picture, is the plan of salvation according to Eli, and it is absolutely 100% correct!!  We then talked more about what we need to do here on earth, which is live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Here is a little portion of our lesson... 

Sisters: "Eli what do we have to do here in this life?"

Eli: "Well, we have to follow the rules."

Sisters: " What are the rules?"

Eli- grabs a piece of chalk, and writes "rules" on the board, underlines it, and begins making a list of rules we have to follow; which pretty much amounted to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Y'all he is getting BAPTIZED October 8th!!!  

We are so excited for little Eli!  He is so excited to get baptized. He came to church on Sunday and LOVED it.  He saw us in the hall and had his children's book of Mormon with him.  He told us he has read like 50 pages... HOLY MOLY!!! This kid is #1! And he is like the most adorable thing ever!  
    

Thursday we had exchanges with the Bainbridge sisters, Sister Stradinger, and Sister Anderson.  I got to spend the day with Sister Stradinger!  I have served around her my whole mission pretty much, so it was fun to actually spend time with her.  We had a great exchange. She is a very hard working missionary. I cannot believe that she is a transfer older than me in the mission, and goes home in 7 weeks. Good thing i am never leaving the mission :)  

Friday was Zone conference.  Sister Jensen and I taught on being willing and adaptable to change.  We based our talk off of a talk by Marvin J. Ashton called, Progress through Change . Here is a link.  I recommend it to all :) 

 www.lds.org/general-conference/1979/10/progress-through-change?lang=eng

The spirit definitely led the training. Which we are really grateful for.  We also shared an excerpt from a talk by F. Enzio Busche.  Its super motivating and helps us to not be so stressed out about change.  I attached the file under "MOTIVATION" so hopefully it pulls up for y'all :)

Zone Conference was really great!  The spirit was there to uplift and strengthen us all.  President and Sister Smith are so inspired, and i love love love learning from them.  

     

So Saturday was a special day!  We got ready for Sunday, but we also had birthday breakfast, Lee's baptism and a fabulous birthday dinner at Panera Bread. 

Sister Porter, and Sister Jenkins spent the night at our apartment and ate breakfast with us in the morning.  Sister Jensen made a cute banner for me that reads "Happiest of Birthdays Woody!"  It was adorable.  I have some pretty fabulous friends y'all :)  Sister Jenkins and Sister Porter gave me a cute little plaque that has Philippians 46:10.  I loved it!! :)  Also, i got packages from the fam fam :)  I am so grateful for such a wonderful family that supports me and wished me such happy birthday :) Thanks y'all!! 

 

Lee's baptism was so wonderful.  I am so grateful that he has made the choice to follow Jesus Christ through baptism.  He faced a lot of adversity in preparation for his baptism.  But he is converted.  He knows this is the true church, and knows that this is what heavenly father wants for him.  It was such a spiritual service.  The people in the Dothan 2nd Ward just LOVE lee.  He had a lot of support.  Such a special day for Lee Phillips!!

Sunday was fabulous as well.  We had 2 investigators at church and a few less actives.  Our investigator Marcy LOVED church and plans to come back next week!  Great things are happening here in Dothan.  :) 

 

          

                       

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This week was so spirit filled, and memorable.  I am so grateful for this Restored Gospel.  I know that it truly has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us personally and have individual plans for us.  I have felt so much love this week from many, but especially from my Heavenly Father and Savior.  

I am so grateful for the ability we have to pray, and speak freely to our Father in Heaven.  I know that my prayers have been answered this week.  I am also so grateful for the scriptures, and the ability we have to receive revelation through them.  This is Christ's Church.  I know He lives.  I know that it is through him that we can do all things.  

Have a blessed week y'all! 

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

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The Book of Norman's Huhnnny!

Hey y'all!

I hope this week has treated y'all fine! It certainly was a busy one for Sister Jensen and I.  Still loaded with lots of opposition, but that is only because we had a lot of success this week.  So all is well. :) 

Tuesday started  out with a very inspired personal study.  I was looking over our plans for the day and decided to study for a few former investigators we were going to be seeing. I got stuck on the Book of Mormon.  It was pretty wonderful. President Benson talked a lot about how the Book of Mormon is the Keystone to our Religion.  Here are some quotes that I absolutely LOVED!   

“We have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families maybe corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat falsehoods. … Our missionaries are not as effective unless they are [teaching] with it. Social, ethical,cultural, or educational converts will not survive under the heat of the day unless their taproots go down to the fullness of the gospel which the Book of Mormon contains. Our Church classes are not as Spirit-filled unless we hold it up as a standard.”
“I bless you with increased understanding of the Book of Mormon. I promise you that from this moment forward, if we will daily sup from its pages and abide by its precepts, God will pour out upon each child of Zion and the Church a blessing hitherto unknown—and we will plead to the Lord that He will begin to lift the condemnation—the scourge and judgment. Of this I bear solemn witness.”8 

After our amazing studies, Sister Jensen, Sister Porter, Sister Jenkins, and I headed out to District meeting. It was really good, and we heard a lot of what Sister Jensen and I needed specifically.  Heavenly Father was very aware of us on Tuesday.  We had an awesome lesson with these three ladies that i just happened to study for.  They were really interested in the Book of Mormon.  But one of the ladies, Gloria, called it the "Book of Norman"  the whole time.  She would end all of her sentences with " Huhnny " haha :) it was fabulous!! It was a powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon.  They are excited for us to come back and teach them more! 

So the miracle of the entire week happened Tuesday evening.  So rewind to last Sunday...We went to go contact a head quarter referral that wanted a free bible.  She wasn't home, but her next door neighbor was and heard us knocking.  She came out to see who it was.  We introduced ourselves and asked her name.  Her name is Marcy... So cute.  We asked her if we could come by and share a message about Jesus Christ with her sometime, and she said YES!!! Blessings. So fast forward back to Tuesday evening.  We went to see Marcy. We get there and it was just slightly awkward... how is it not awkward to come into a person's house that you dont really know and start teaching them.. anyways, we start talking about the plan of salvation.  The spirit was just so strong.  I dont even have words to describe how powerful it was.  Sister Jensen and I were just testifying the whole time of God's Love for Marcy.  We introduced her to the Book of Mormon.  She LOVED it.  We read Moroni 10:3-5 with her and she was just so overcome with the spirit, she had to step out of the room to compose herself.  While she was in the other room, i turned to sister Jensen, and said, she needs to be baptized.  We committed her that night to follow the example of our savior Jesus Christ by being baptized, and guess what?! She said YES!  We set a date with her right then!  It was awesome!  She is so excited to be baptized, and come to church.  Earlier in that lesson, she was telling us how she has been praying for someone to help her come to church.  We were the answer to her prayers!  

I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of all of His children.  I know without a doubt that he knows Marcy and that we were led to her.  She is an amazing woman, and I cannot wait to see her progress in the Gospel.  We were led to so many other prepared people this week. We gained 7 new investigators for the week.  They are all prepared in their own way. Its so great!  

Saturday we ate dinner at Sister Finney's house.  We got there, and she had a friend come over for dinner as well.  As we were all talking, we just start asking missionary questions, because, you know.. we are missionaries :)  We "axed" him the questions of the soul... Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going?  I felt like the missionary in "The Best Two Years."  But Chris had all the same beliefs as the Plan of Salvation, just put into different terms.  So we talked a little more with him and invited him to come to church with sister Finney next week.  We have an appointment with him next week.  We are so excited!!!  

Things are really happening here in Sweet Home Alabama.  I absolutely LOVE this place!!  The people here are so ready to hear the Restored Gospel.  I am also so blessed with a fabulous companion.  She is so patient and loving, and i learn from her every day!!  LOVE IT!  

Yall have a blessed week!  

     

OUR DEAREST NEIGHBORS MADE OUR DAY WITH THIS FABULOUS SURPRISE :)