Week 16

Hello everyone!

I hope you have had a good week and that there have been significantly fewer mosquitoes for you!

It has been a typical week for us, but still challenging as usual. I am no longer the designated driver.  We figured that out a week ago, haha.

My ankle has been acting up, perhaps from running funny or I bruised it somehow.  Also, the mosquitoes have had a biting fest on my feet, even though we've been wearing bug spray, since we've been outside so much. It itches quite a bit. I'm pretty sure mosquitoes are horrible, horrible creatures!

A funny story: my companion asks me, "who is that attractive man in that picture over there?" I didn't have my contacts in. I'm so blind! I thought she was pointing to a different picture, and so I'm like, "Oh, that's Jesus!" Hahaha.

We had zone training up in Wausau on Tuesday, which was great! I love missionary meetings. I was happy to see Sister Pearson again. We almost went to Texas Roadhouse so I could use my gift card, but it was closed until dinner time... so we went to Olive Garden instead! It was awesome, nothing wrong with that! :)  

We have been doing lots of contacting and tracting again this week. We were able to set 2 baptism dates with Lucas and Rose, who we met tracting. We are still trying really hard to find more people to teach. But, we've seen lotso f progress. We even found a less-active who was off the radar. She wants to meet with us again! Awesome. I've found that talking to people is becoming less and less horrible for me, haha. :P We've been talking to and meeting more strangers than I've had to in the past and I've found that it's getting easier. It's almost like a game. It's funny because when we introduce ourselves to people they say "Hi, I'm catholic." Haha, well, nice to meet you, Catholic! :P It doesn't make any sense to me why they think that's an excuse to end a conversation that hasn't even started.  It's also very funny when people with very Polish last names correct you five or so times about during the prayer.

We also had a return missionary, Alicia Goede, come tracting with us. She is awesome!!! You can tell her mission really changed her and she loved it so much. She also went with us to a lesson with Sister Zimmerman, a less-active, who ended up going to church yesterday to see her give her homecoming talk! It was a miracle. Anyway, she's been home for a month now and was telling us lots of great advice and how hard the adjustment has been. It was hard enough to adjust and I know leaving will be even harder! When I come home I will want to bring a box of missionary planners, haha. :) I can't imagine giving up this structured lifestyle! I will be super bored. Her talk focused on how her mission taught her life lessons, and caused her to rely on the Atonement.  She talked about how whenever she wanted to give up and go home she would remember that the Savior never gave up.  I know that's true! The Savior knows exactly what it means to have a hard day on a mission, to feel rejected by the people, lonely, disappointed, even despised, and yet He never surrendered. I've felt closer to Him than I ever have before on my mission thus far. Because of Him, I will never give up!

I know it's so important to have faith in the Lord's will, whatever it is.  Faith is something I've had to work on a lot lately.  But it makes such a huge difference.If you have faith in the Lord's will then you will always win, no matter what.  I also have been able to see that prayer really, really works! If you ever want to talk to someone, I've seen that the best person to talk with is the Lord. Go to Him first! I've had a few epic prayer experiences this week, where I've poured out my heart, unloaded all my concerns and I was able to see those prayers answered, feel refreshed, and observe the Lord's hand in my life.  So yes, sincere prayer makes everything better!  Missionary life is great and I'm loving it! :)

Well, I'm running a bit short on email time, so I'll end here.

I love you!

Love,

Sister Woods