Giving Thanks in Dothan

Hey there Y'all!!

I hope y'all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  There is so much to be thankful for!  I have been thinking about how many blessings Heavenly Father has rained down upon me, my family, and my mission.  I am so grateful to know that we have a LOVING Heavenly Father who knows us individually.  He has an intricate plan for all of us.  He puts people in our lives that knows will touch us, and change us for the better.  I am so grateful to have such a wonderful companion who puts up with me :)  I would not be able to make it through this last 6 weeks with out her!!!  I sure am going miss her and all my Dothan buddies! 

I am so grateful for my loving family.  I am blessed with such wonderful people to claim as kin! :)  I am grateful for all their prayers and support.  I am so grateful for the way that Heavenly Father has cared for and blessed my sweet family.  The restored gospel of Jesus Christ truly does bless us as families and as individuals.  

I am most grateful for the knowledge I have of our loving savior, Jesus Christ.  It is through him and his mercy and grace that we can be forgiven or our sins, strengthened in our weaknesses, and supported in our trials.  The opportunity that we have to access the power of the Atonement each day is such a blessing that I have taken for granted for so long.  I am so grateful that each day we have the opportunity to commune with our Father in Heaven, through Jesus Christ, to identify our weaknesses and what we can do to be better servants in his hands. I know for sure that I would be a hopeless sole if it were not possible for us to repent and access the power of the atonement each day.  

Jesus Christ has seen me through the good times and supported, and carried me though the difficult times.  

I know He lives.  I know He loves us.  I know He is the one that saves.  

We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

            

  

  

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Sister Wood 

Zone Training and Activity

Hey Y'all!!!

Sorry this is getting to y'all late.  We had a CRAZY day yesterday.  We had a zone training in the morning.  Sister Jensen trained on Discipleship. It went really well, and we had a lot of participation.  It was a bitter sweet day.  My last zone training ever.... YIKES!!!  Y'all, time is going by so fast.  I can't even handle it.  3 more weeks of being a full time, set apart missionary.   AHHHH..  

Anyways..... 

So this week has been an interesting and busy one at that!    Tuesday was district meeting.  It went really good.  We had a good discussion on the culture of our district and zone.  We came to the conclusion that we need to be more charitable through obedience. That makes us sound like awful missionaries, but its really just motivating us to fulfill our purpose with love.  A lot of times we as missionaries try our best to be obedient.  While doing so, we sometimes lose sight of who we are. We lose our personalities.  That is what makes obedience difficult without love.  If we are loving the lord, then we will do the work in his way, while gaining confidence in ourselves because we see the blessings that come from trusting in the lord.  When we lose ourselves in the work of the lord, we find who we truly are.  I have definitely seen that in my life over the course of the mission.  

I have just become so happy over the course of my mission. I sometimes think about how life was before the mission, and i just was not a happy person.  I have seen first hand what the Atonement changes lives.  I know that His grace is sufficient for all of us.  We do not have make it to a certain level, all that is asked of us is that we do all we can to keep the commandments.  

We had a great meeting with Kay!  She is a Family History investigator.  We found a line that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve!!! and guess what y'all?!!!  it's the same family line that leads back to Adam and Eve in my family!!! I found more kin here in the south!! :)  Holy Moly!!! 

Wednesday was a crazy day.  We finally were able to see our favorite miss Jan.  She has had family in town, and she has been sick for the past 10 days or so.  So we have not been able to see her as much as we would like to.  We had a pretty good lesson with her.  However, she had some concerns about not being able to be baptized in both churches.  She currently attends a non- denominational church called Harvest.  She really loves it, but she also really loves the LDS church.  So she is torn.  She got pretty upset about people saying that "this is the only true church." So we had to patch things up.  But later in the week we were able to teach her the restoration.  She really enjoyed it and said she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  

Its interesting because every time we have planned to teach her the restoration, something comes up and we aren't able to teach it.  So the adversary just knows that she will accept the message of the restoration, and gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  So we are just excited to see how things go from now on.  She seems to really understand the priesthood. so that is a huge plus.  

Those are pretty much the highlights of the week.  

Hope y'all have a fabulous week, and an even more fabulous Thanksgiving!!  

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that I would not be where I am today without it.  It blesses our lives, but most importantly it blesses our families.  I have seen first hand how the gospels blesses families.  Heavenly Father knows us by name.  He knows our desires, fears, and troubles.  I am so grateful to know that He has an intricate plan for all of his children.  

Have a blessed week y'all!  

Love ya!! 

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

      

    

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National Peanut Festival and SURPRISES!!!

Hey Y'all!!  

So this week was quite the week. It seemed like an eternity long!!  But we made it.  

Tuesday we had the chance to volunteer at the Peanut Festival. That  was a blast.  We got to see the sights!  We ate funnel fries, elephant ears, and fired Reese's.  Man was that a night full of fried food!!! never again.  haha but it was a good experience. :)  We also watched the swifty swine.  Pig races are apparently a thing here in the south haha it was pretty fantastic.  

We got some news on Friday that Sister Stapley, from the dothan 2 ward was getting transferred to Geneva since a sister there was going home.  It was a tough goodbye.  I certainly love Sister Stapley!  She has taught me so much just serving around her.  But thank goodness she is still in the zone.  I will be seeing her this week! :)  

Sunday rolled around, and as I was walking down the hall from ward council, I see TAMMY standing in the foyer with the Guthrie's!!!  She got me good!   She came to surprise sister porter and i.  She went to the 2nd ward sacrament meeting, and then saw me in the hall.  So that was a huge SURPRISE! 

We finally got to take the sacrament.  If I have learned anything on my mission, it is the importance of Sabbath Day worship.  The sacrament is so necessary in our lives.  I believe that Sister Jensen and I had such a rough week this week because we weren't able to take the sacrament last week due to stake conference. The sacrament is what gives me the energy to do what the lord expects of me.  It truly is a renewal.  I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he gives us the opportunity to be cleansed from sin and trouble every week!  What a loving father!  

Well y'all, thats pretty much all for this week.  Have a blessed one!

And just remember ...

  

Love y'all!

Sister Melisa Jean Wood 

         

   

         
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His Grace is Sufficient

Hey Y'all!  

Wowie..wow... wow.. wow.   This transfer has been chalk full of so many tender mercies as well as the most adversity i have ever face on the mission.  I am just so grateful that I have a companion who is so loving, kind, and patient in all that we do.  Sister Jensen is my life saver!!  Also, I am so grateful that I am surrounded by such great missionaries.  I absolutely love my district and the things I am able to learn from them!  #homies4life

 Oh dear... My testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, and his Grace has grown tremendously this transfer.  Sister Jensen and I have learned a lot of lessons of faith, patience, humility, adversity, grace, and prayer.  There are events that back up each of those.  A lot an happening one transfer, and if it is possible, it happened to Sister Jensen and I.  

I think grace blankets all of those different lessons learned.  Grace is something that I have always had a difficult time understanding.  But when i was on my exchange with Sister Stephens, I learned a lot about grace.  As I have been reflecting on the lessons learned this transfer, I found some verses of scripture that sums it all up.  

Jacob 4:7-8,10-11

7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

 8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God.

10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.

 11 Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son,

I have learned that Christ is the difference.  We are given weaknesses and opposition to help us realize what we can do with the help of the Lord.  We have to trust him and rely on him for our weaknesses to become strengths.  I am just feeling so grateful and privileged that I am learning such eternal truths.  I absolutely love my mission and all of the experiences I have had and things I have learned.  

Please enjoy some of my favorite moments of the transfer :) 

Have a blessed week y'all!  

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

         

        

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6 more weeks of Dothan!

Hey Y'all!  
I hope this email finds you doing well.  This week has been pretty fabulous.   I just don't know where to start.... Week five of the transfer is always a scary one.  Our fate shows up in an email at the end of the week that tells us if we are staying in our area, or if we are getting transferred.  Good news y'all! I'M NOT GETTING TRANSFERRED, AND NEITHER IS MY COMPANION!  We get to stay together in Dothan for my last 6 weeks as a missionary.  This is so insane. I cannot believe that my last transfer is here.  I feel like I just became a missionary! YIKES!  I don't want to life.. haha just kidding....I know that it is necessary for me to "life."  However, I don't have to 'Life" quite yet.  I am still a missionary.  So here are some fun missionary moments from the week :) 

Mary Jane

So we recently had a new neighbor move in below us in the blessed Sweetwater Apartments. We have never met him, let alone seen him.  We just noticed that he parks his FLORIDA SHERIFF'S ASSOCIATION vehicle right next to our beautiful new car sometimes.  Sister Jensen and I were just conversing about life last night, and we started to smell a strange smell.  Well, growing up in the good ole price 'merica I knew right away what that smell was.... It got to be pretty dag-gone bad. If we had stayed any longer, we wouldn't have been able to leave... So thank the heavens we have the Dothan 2 Sisters in our same complex.  We trekked on over there to spend the night so we wouldn't be influenced by the fumes.  Sister Jensen and I just found this quite comical.  We were just like "Why wouldn't this happen to us?!" Let's just add it to the list of all the crazy things that happen in Dothan.  Gotta love it.  

Jan

Oh Jan!  So dear friends and family, Jan is our most progressing investigator at the moment.  She is a power house!!! She was referred to us by a Sister in the ward, Sister Dobbs.  Jan is actually her Sister-in-Law.  We have had a couple of good lessons with Jan. This week, things got real.  Jan has gone through a lot of loss in her life.  Her health suffers, as does her self worth.   We saw her on Saturday night.  Rewind to earlier that day.  We had a couple solid appointments set up that we were excited for.  But then all of a sudden they fell through.  Luckily Jan was still willing to meet with us.  I am so glad that our other appointments fell through because Jan needed our full attention.  We opened that lesson with a prayer of course, but Jan offered it.  The Spirit in that home was seriously unreal.  Y'all, tears were streaming down my face as she prayed.  She is so full of the spirit.  She then told us some things she has been through in her life.  She wants to change so badly.  She wants more than anything to be closer to the Savior.  That night was definitely an inspired one.  We talked about baptism a little, and all of a sudden she just blurts out, "God has been telling me for a while that i need to be baptized."  Sister Jensen and I about fell off the couch.  

Jan came to church on Sunday.  She wasn't feeling well that morning, but she was determined to go. As the sacrament was being passed she leaned over to me, tears streaming down her face and told me she was feeling something in her chest.  She asked me if that was normal.  I smiled and said, "yes. Jan that is the spirit witnessing to you that you are in the right place."  She smiled and held my had for a good portion of fast and testimony meeting.  Every single testimony that was shared testified of the reality of the restoration of the Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith.  These testimonies were just for Jan.  

All the members were so nice to Jan and made her feel very welcome as we headed to Gospel Principles.  Brother Kelley taught a fantastic lesson on the doctrine behind family history and temple work.  It was exactly what Sister Jensen had been planning to teach Jan.  The neatest thing was that she kept leaning over to sister Jensen saying that her sister that has passed can be baptized.  It was perfect.  She was even participating in the class!  Everyone was so surprised at her comments and questions.  

Third hour was combined.  We watched Elder Dallan H. Oaks talk from this last General Conference.  She said that he looked familiar to her.  We could tell she was listening intently.  She participated in the discussion we had after we viewed the talk.  It was amazing.  She is such a valiant spirit.  

We had a quick lesson with her this morning.  We had committed her to read the plan of salvation pamphlet in one of our past lessons.  She pulled it out, and that thing was covered in notes and circles.  She had really studied that pamphlet.  Then she pulled out this pad of paper that had two whole pages of what she had learned.   Sister Jensen and I were just so shocked as to how much she retained.  She was just testifying to us of what she knew because of what she learned.  It was AMAZING.  We are planning to commit her to a baptismal date of November 19th.  Please keep her in y'alls prayers.  She needs them :)

Eli

Eli is just the cutest little recent convert!  He is doing so well.  We have been having a hard time getting him to come to church though, because his family is not so motivated.  We had some pretty awesome lessons with him this week.  He just understands the gospel so clearly.  Even more so now that he has the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  We were talking about prophets and apostasies in one of our lessons.  We asked him why it would be important to have a prophet.  "It's important to have a prophet because that's how God communicates with us."  This kid just gets it.  He calls the apostacy "The Pit."  It's pretty great.  When he talks about prophets he describes it as us being high on the mountain top.  THIS KID IS A GENIUS!!!  We painted a rock that said "prayer" so that he could put it on his pillow in the morning so that at night he would have to move it and be reminded to pray.  Then when he wakes up in the morning, he will be reminded to pray when he steps on it. :)  He was pretty excited.  We asked him what he was going to name his rock before he painted it.  His reply was " My biggest fan."  haha he is just my favorite tiny human.  

There is no greater feeling than the spirit witnessing to you that the people you are teaching are changing their lives.  They are becoming converted.  They aren't just gaining a testimony, but they are changing their lives and becoming converted.  It is such a beautiful thing to be a part of.  I know that this gospel is truer than true.  It is perfect.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is here to help us, lift us, strengthen us, and change us.  I love being part of this great work.  I don't know where I would be if it weren't for my mission.  I cannot wait to see where these last 6 weeks take me.  

Have a blessed week y'all! 

Sister Melissa Jean Wood 

Pictures

#1: Shaving cream that was put on the handles of our car 

by our #truehomies the Dothan 1 Elders. 

#2: Life as short girls...

#3: Choose The Right~ 

~Commandments, Take his name upon you, Remeber him~

Current Temple Recommend 

#4: Because Alabama is BEAUTIFUL!!

            

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