Week 5: Skydive!

Hello Everyone, 

 As of 2 days ago Wisconsin is warming up for spring!!!! Last p-day it snowed lots.  Too much snow! But now you can actually see the sun and it's like 40 degrees.  Hotness!

Guess where I'm going for lunch today? Yep, you guessed it, Sweet Frog frozen yogurt!!! Hooray.  :D 

I hope all of you are doing well.  I miss you all and think about you lots. 

We still haven't gotten any new investigators!!!! This is saddening, but on the other hand we've still had a pretty good week.  Brian and Skylor are doing great in preparation for their baptisms this month.  We did get a referral but it's to a former church member who is loaded for bear with anti-mormon literature.  So that will be fun and scary!!! But, it's a referal nonetheless.  :)

Yesterday was fast Sunday and we had to teach a lesson before we could break our fast!! Almost 24 hours, which is a lot! Especially for me. But it was a good experience!

I guess I don't notice it, but EVERYONE keeps telling me I'm so happy all the time. I got up to bear my testimony in church yesterday and the branch president told me afterward he thinks I am a Mary Poppins and that I lightened the mood.  I can't help it! I don't intend to be super smiley or anything.  It's just how I feel the Spirit, I think.  Even during these discouraging times when we are out tracting and no one wants to hear our message, or when people we visited last week don't answer the door, I'm still super happy!! It's probably weird.  Poor Sister Pearson, haha.  Jesus makes me happy, so what!? :P I feel the Spirit testify to me really strong all day long, which makes me happy, but I wish everyone we talk with could feel it too.  It breaks my heart that people don't realize all the joy, peace and happiness that the Gospel brings. They don't know all the blessings they are missing out on! (baby come back! :()  The Savior's Sacrifice has given us unlimited chances to change and improve which  I'm so grateful for, because only through Him we can feel lasting peace and happiness.He already paid the price for all of us. I just wish everyone could take advantage of that supreme and eternal gift!  

 I'm feeling more comfortable talking to people, so that's good! 

Sis. Pearson and I are praying for our luck to turn and find more people to teach.  If you feel so inclined, a prayer would be much appreciated! 

Anyway, here's a quote I really like from Our Search for Happiness: "I often suggest to those who want to know if the Church is true that they spend a few hours working with our missionaries.  It doesn't take long to learn that no one can do all the things a missionary does every day without knowing beyond any question that what they are doing is right and true."  This is so true!! Seriously. If I didn't KNOW and FEEL for myself, the truth of what I'm teaching (as I teach), you can bet I'd be back on a plane to Vegas pronto! Missions are hard work and involve lots of sacrifices, like getting smoked on and talking to strangers who don't want to talk to you! Talk about Awkward! :P Feeling the Spirit is what makes it all worth it.  I know that the Gospel truly changes lives. I just wish everyone knew!    

Here's an insight I have discovered from the Book of Mormon.  If any of you happen to have that awesome book handy, flip to 1 Nephi 7:17.  I love how it was Nephi's faith in Jesus Christ that enabled him to break the bands that he was bound with.  Totally cool! Well, I think this has an application to each of our lives as well. The Savior's Atonement is an enabling power, in that it allows us to overcome not just our sins, but any type of struggle, whether it is doubt, discouragement, temptation, despair, or fatigue. If we can focus on our faith in the Savior, we can overcome these things in the very moment we are experiencing them. Here's just a simple example: When it's time to get out of bed at 6:30 am and I'm still tired, I think about Nephi, those chords, and the Savior.  Then I find the strength to overcome and roll out of bed.  I'd encourage all of you to try to access that enabling power of the Atonement.  The Savior can give us strength to overcome any discouraging or difficult situation for He has already overcome them all! And He is always there willing to help us through our struggles in life.  

      

Be happy!!! 

I love all of you!

Love,

Sister Woods