Week 69--Hello!

Hello, Everyone!

I don't have too much time today but we had an amazing week!

Our investigator, Lun Cheng, is doing so well! He went to all 3 hours of church this week and has such a sincere desire to find the answers to his questions! I've never had an investigator who is so careful, deep thinking and studious about his investigation. He is awesome! We had an epic lesson about why it's worth it to believe in God and how God wants all of us to enjoy the happiness He does and reach our potential. We think he's afraid of being disappointed and afraid of the trials that will come his way. I compared life to a parabola and that seemed to click well with him. Then we had the ward mission leader and his wife teach with us, which was great! He has so many questions. It's awesome. This guy is going places! Pray for him if you feel so inclined!

On a lighter note I learned an important lesson this week. Dishwasher soap is fundamentally different from dishwasher detergent! We had a bubble fest on our kitchen floor which was hilarious. #specialsistermoment

Oh, and a less-active lady teaches all the sisters to knit. I am really enjoying it!! I actually inherited a giant tangly mass of yarn from the sisters before me and this one lady we visited was obsessed with untying it for me. So we talked about Jesus while she undid the entire thing and rolled it into a ball. It was quite the undertaking.

We have also been asked to start singing for people at each of our sit-down lessons! Hilarious, I know. I think the Elders were very concerned.

I had an awesome exchange with a temple square sister from Austrailia!!! It was awesome. I of course asked her all about the kangaroos and what she thinks of Outback Steakhouse. We stayed up really late giggling and the best part was that we were trying to come up with all the stereotypical Austrailian names and it took us 15 minutes to mention Sheila. xD We even acquired a triple referral! Oh and the members took us to Red Robin. Yay!

Contrary to my request, my dad sent 8 boxes of candy this week! And juice and water which were requested. It was hilarious. OH DEAR! And of course this all happened when I was on exchanges. xD  I shared with the elders and they were super excited about it. One of them put the entire box of sour patch kids in his backpack yesterday and I'm pretty sure they are gone now.

It was pouring rain yesterday! I am the designated umbrella holder because as one  really sweet lady in the ward says, I'm a tree. And my dear companion's head comes below my shoulder. :P But she is fast! It was funny to see her sprinting through the rain with the meal calendar clipboard over her head on the way to ward council. xD She is pretty hilarious.

Well, I had better go! Love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Woods

P.S. President just called us and we are nervited! Something big might be happening!

Week 68--Mad Town, Wisconsin

Hello, Everyone!!!

So here I am in Madison!! Like I may or may not have mentioned last week, it's a bus area! The buses here are crazy. We have been stranded a few times because if you miss it then... that's it for you! But the members are super nice and offer to rescue us and drive us home. We had a cute member rescue us this week. Her name is Sister Vigil and she is from Hong Kong. It was so great to talk about CHina with her. She also served her mission there.

Madison is huge! There are so many people, everywhere, all the time! Lots of opportunities for me to do street contacting, haha! It's a big adjustment for me. THere's lots of diversity, too. Lots of Asians. Not everyone is pasty white like in the other areas I've served! We even have a large Spanish speaking population. Half the sacrament prayers and the programs are in Spanish!

So we get to go to church in a castle. Seriously! It's a super old building, like with trap doors and hidden basements and such. And there were weeds everywhere so we got to help out with that.

AND our apartment is pretty nice. We had a dishwasher AND a workout room! We have amazing investigators, lots who are on the verge of being ready for baptism. Hopefully they will get there! We also have an incredible ward mission leader. He was actually just called to be Pres. Cutler's counselor for the mission presidency. It was seriously the most loving and in-depth correlation I've ever had! He totally just volunteered to fellowship and teach our investigators with us. Speaking of which, my favorite so far is this adorable little Asian guy, Lun Cheng from Taiwan. He says he is 30% Christian,  he's so tiny, 30 years old and has tons of questions for us. He reads the BOM lots and he's so funny! We've gotta get him going to sacrament meeting and third hour, though. He loves Gospel Principles the most. We've also got lots of other people who are on the edge of glory, so to speak (much like Lady Gaga) and just need to commit themselves to baptism. They all read the BOM and go to church every week anyway so I don't see what the big deal is.

The biggest lesson I've learned this week is NOT to talk to everyone on the bus. Seriously. Girls only from now on! So there I was just trying to talk about Jesus with this guy on the bus and he's asking me lots of questions about Joseph Smith and why I'm a missionary and such. It was weird. THEN he puts his hand on my shoulder and says "Why are you doing this? YOu are too beautiful and attractive to be all churchy.  Just be yourself!" AAAHHHHH It was so creepy and scary, I died! Luckily my companion, SIster Weaver, rushed to my rescue! hahahah. I had to pretty much burn the shirt I was wearing. Haha!!!

Sister Weaver is cool by the way. She is from Salem Oregon, is almost 25 and is pretty hilarious. I like her.

I've been taking naps and sleeping like crazy. So has my comp. I guess we are both old-timers. She only has 1 transfer left. It was pretty great. I'm still exhausted all the time. But it was funny, yesterday as we returned home for lunch I said "I'm so tired I can't do anything else... but I have just enough energy to eat ice cream." Bahaha.

Anyway, the church is true.

Love,

SIster Lacey Woods

Week 67--MARQUETTE TO MADISON

Hello Everyone!!! 

Well I survived the week on a bike! And, it even rained on us. I am really sore! But it was a great workout, and wow is it beautiful up here!!! We got to drive right by the lake, feel the cool breeze and enjoy all the pretty green scenery.

I don't have much time today but here are some highlights!!!

1. We set a baptism date with Gray!!! We had a rocking lesson about the temple and she wants to go!!! So excited for her. It's far off but she is totally willing if she feels ready.

2. Jack's friend Corrina came to church for the first time!!!!

3. So we went to visit the  Syria's on our bikes and were exhausted, naturally. So they made us some chocolate protein shakes. Yum, right? Well, it was really tingly!!! Guess why? There was CASHEW milk in there!!!!!!! Dx Bahaha. For those of you who don't know, there is nothing on this earth I hate more than cashews. BLEGH. Theylight my mouth on fire. Oh, it was so hilarious! I've managed to avoid them my whole mission!!!! And there they are, hiding in a protein shake! xD 

4. I'm being transferred!!!!! NOOOOOOOo...... That's what I said inside. I will miss Marquette SO SO SO much!!! I will miss the amazing people, the beauty. I will miss Sister Payne! But, on the other hand, I'm going to Madison 1st ward, which is the only sister bus area, I think! So I will truly get to experience all the transportation methods on my mission, haha. :P My new companion is Sister Weaver, who is awesome I hear. She only has one more transfer on her mission.

5. We had such a great missionary moment on exchanges this week. I got to spend the day with Sister Pope, who is AWESOME (aka the Popesicle) and we went to the park to do some contacting and lo and behold, a nice lady was sitting there on a bench, watching the lake. We talk to her and she is super nice, super interested in the Book of Mormon!! She actually wanted to hear what we had to say. Her daughter is super into religions right now and oh man... it was just one of those moments where you are super glad to be a missionary. YES. This is why I'm here. :) 

I'm sure there are a hundred more things I could share today but I'm out of time. I love you all! I know this work is true!!!!!

Love,

Sister Woods

Week 66--A WEEKARIFIC WEEK

Hello, Everyone!!!! 

So this week was filled with excitement. A few highlights.

Last p-day we went over to Gray's house for a lesson and her roommates found a bunch of baby bunnies!!!! they were so tiny, fluffly and cute!!! I will send pictures. Promise. ;) The hilarious part was they hopped right over to Sister Payne and fell asleep on her! She is the bunny whisperer. Haha, she also whispered to the fish apparently becasue we were cleaning the fish tank at the Beacon House again and the filter broke and she magically fixed it. 

Also, a quick funny story. I was describing this hilarious less-active lady we go visit. She has wild puffy hair and while she won't let us in her house, she will make us laugh on her doorstep. As I was telling the story, Emily asks us if she's black, to which I respond: "A little bit. :)" "WHAT??!! What, is she milk chocolate??!" Bahahaha. 

We also went bowling in skirts (I know. there will be pictures, I promise! :)). I almost won. 

We had a showing of Meet the Mormons at the church and 3 investigators were there!!!! So great. Two of them were really touched by it and the other one got to socialize lots with the members, which was great. 

We helped a family fold laundry (secretly my favorite chore) and do dishes. They had gotten really behind because they have a young baby and the husband just had shoulder surgery so he can't help the Mom by holding it while she cleans. We were so glad a member ACTUALLY took us up on our offer to help!!! Seriously. Ask the missionaries to help you. Put them to work. Make them feel useful!!! :) 

Anyway, it was fun, and as a reward they took us out to get Mexican food at this oober fancy place I've had my eye on ever since I got to Marquette! It is called Sol Azteca and it was SUPER. DELICIOSO. claro. (that means "true dat" :)). Haha. Actually, I hadn't had chips and salsa in so long we both went wild and ate all the chips and were too full to eat our enchiladas. Haha! So good.

And this week will be extra fun because we are getting our truck fixed. You know what THAT means?? We get to be biking sisters. I am not excited. I can't lie about that. These are boy bikes which means I'm getting high centered in a skirt and will be in a world of pain (although I do normally enjoy bike riding on girl bikes without horrible seats). Sister Payne, on the other hand, is way excited. She loves bike riding, even boy bikes, and it is her goal to be out tracting on bikes in a big rain storm. I am pretty sure she will achieve that goal this week! Oh man. :) Should be fun. 

I also made one of my best puns ever yesterday and no one appreciated it. (Granted, I was making a lot of them, but still, this one was great! :P Come on now!) Kimi Woods, this one's for you. :) Sarah Briggs was telling us how the new Pope is chosen. (sorry if my recounting isn't entirely accurate). Anyway,  They have all the bishops and cardinals meet in the Vatican in this big council from all over the world, discussing, meeting, back-and-forth about who the next Pope should be. So I respond "Hey, It's a big Pope-erree!!!" (Potpourri) xDDD I thought that one was about as good as my orc-estra. 

The zone leaders told me I'm playing the cello at zone training tomorrow. Should be fun I suppose.

Something we are really focusing on as a mission right now is fasting. We are studying it in preparation for interviews coming up. I can absolutely attest to the fact that fasting is amazing. I felt the Spirit so strongly yesterday. I have been ridiculously blessed on my mission to be filled with love for those around me, everyone, even strangers, so strongly, so unconditionally, that I know it can only come from our Heavenly Father. I by no means am anything special. This is I'm sure something lots of missionaries feel. I know the amount of love I had before my mission. It was selective. Only for certain people and it was a little bit, and actually rather conditional. But this is truly an amazing thing the Lord has blessed me with since I've been out here. I love the Lord. I love my Savior. I know for an absolute certainty that our Savior lives, and that His gospel has been restored in its fullness. The things I've felt and experienced have confirmed that to me so powerfully that nothing on this earth can ever convince me otherwise. Even amidst the most challenging, debilitating, lonely and heartbreaking trial of my life, I know the Savior loves me and understands. I have felt that. I rely on His strength every single minute of every day. I have faith that we can do all things through Christ. I hope to gain a more certain and perfect knowledge of that one day. Rather soon, I suspect.   

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Also, something else I've been pondering lately is prayer. Sister Payne and I read an article the other day about how we can make our prayers more spirit-filled and effective. It was by Elder Pearson and he suggested that we take a moment to ponder our relationship with Heavenly Father before we pray, to actually form in our minds what we wish to speak to Him about. I have tried that lately and it has really helped me be more focused! Just thought I'd share. :)

Love,

Sister Woods

Week 65--Birthday Week!!

Hello, Everyone!

I don't have too much time left but I'll just tell y'all a little bit about my week.

We had P-day on Tuesday which is so strange! I woke up thinking it was Sunday on Wednesday. Craziness. 

So I turned 21. We drove like 3.5 hours to Green Bay and spent the night with the STL's. We slept on the floor and had a giggle fest, as any good sisters would do. My birthday was awesome! Sister Kelley and I both have the same birthday. We got breakfast at McDonald's before driving to Manitowoc (an hour drive). Zone conference was the best it's ever been. We talked lots about the importance of teh sacrament, how it's amazing, the only ordinance we repeat for ourselves and we can obtain a remission of our sins at any time, not just the sacrament. Even as we are out doing missionary work! It heals and revitalizes us and helps us grow in sanctification and spirituality. I was seriously super excited for church (which I am anyway, but especially after that training!). We also had trainings on the sabbath day, how important it is in establishing "multigenerational" families in this wonderful Gospel, and how we can set goals right now for how we will honor the sabbath day in our future families. THe spirit was so strong!!! I loved it. They sang Happy Birthday to us. We ended up having to stay in Green Bay another night becasue some of the other sisters had some "emergency appointments." So it was another night on the floor but this time the Green Bay sisters were on exchanges so we got to have a sleepover with Sister Kealer! So much fun. :)

I got a ridiculous amount of food from the family so that was great. And clothing. 

Now to the best part of the week: Gray was at church!!!!!!!!!!! I know. THAT was super amazing. Let's see. That was essentially the highlights. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

SIster Woods