Sister Courtnee Wood - Happy Holidays!!

I should preface this weeks pictures by telling you all that Sister Wood has been very sick with Dengue fever this week. But bless her heart, she never mentioned it once in her letter. She is my hero!!

Happy Birthday Sister Wood!!! - So Sicky :(

 

Birthday dinner on the balcony

Royal Strong and True - Always reppin BYU

 

 

Happy December everyone! I can't believe it is December already either. I hope that you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had district meeting that day and  we all forgot that it was a holiday! We went and ate at KFC, so I guess that was our Thanksgiving dinner. This week was magical because it was literally 70-75 degrees on some days. It felt so incredibly amazing. Haha all the kids were in sweatshirts and beanies. All the filipinos were freezing! So I guess that's as cold as it will get. I don't know! 

Thank you all so much who took part in the little birthday suprise that mymom put together! I loved it more than words can describe! Haha the birthday was just another day in the mission field! Nothing special! BEsides the sweet sisters made me dinneron the balcony, so of course that was a awesome. 

Yesterday we were walking on the street and out of nowhere  a big monkey jumps up on the fence next to us. IT SCARED US SO BAD! I swear I have seen more monkeys here... gosh. And it wasn't on a leash or anything! Don't ask what it was doing cause I have no idea. 

So you know the Javier family from La Paz that we have been teaching. Oh how amazing they are. We have continued teaching them and they are on and off magsimba (going to church). But this last week we taught Word of Wisdom and they immediately committed to quit drinking coffee. These people have so much faith! So they asked us when church was again this week and said they were going. They show up to church and we have gospel principles class. The topic was Eternal Families, which was so perfect for them! Well an RM in our ward decided to come in the class and was just going in to all of this deep doctrine stuff that did not need to be talked about with investigators there. They didn't really talk to us after church and just left. So I hope and pray that they were able to feel the Spirit there. There are a lot of times like that at church where we don't have control over things and all we can do is pray that the Spirit touches their hearts. I think that they have the faith, so it will be okay, it is just hard sometimes when we work to get people to church and then something unnecessary happens like that. But its alright! We also have another investigator, someone that Joey referred us to, and he has come to church twice, so he can probably be baptized this month! He is 18 years old and his name is John Eric. We have called him Jenerick this whole time though. They never correct us when we say their names wrong! 

Well I am so sorry this email is all over the place. So many little things happened this week and I can't keep them straight! I hope you all have an amazing December and remember the true meaning of Christmas. I was reading in 2 Nephi earlier today and it was about the Savior. All I want to do is become like Him. Too bad it is the hardest thing ever. There are so many Christlike attributes I need to develop more, but slowly and surely Heavenly Father is helping me. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. We are nothing without it. Thank you so much for all of the thoughts and prayers.I am so grateful.

- Sister Wood 

Tired, worn out, dirty feet

Sister Wood's creation out of plastic sacks. She wanted me to put this pic on pinterest. hahaha

 

Elder Kaden Barlow - December 2, 2013

 

Mariani's Baptism

 

 

Let’s see, early in the week something scary happened. We had just walked past a street we were probably 30 or 40 yards past, when right behind us we heard three gun shots. We turned around and a guy had got shot in the leg. Everyone started screaming and ducking for cover and we took off! It was super sketchy! I about peed my pants. Luckily we weren't 15 seconds slower.

 

Saturday we had the baptism for Fransisco! It went great. I gave a talk and played the piano. The power went out for about 2 minutes and I was afraid that it was going to ruin everything but luckily it all turned good and now Fransisco is a member of the church. He is way awesome! In the first lesson he was smoking a cigarette and now he has completely given it up. He has changed so much.  Also next Saturday we have another baptism for Mariani.

 

Ok as for interesting things this week I have almost gotten eaten by 3 dogs! The first was huge and would have torn Elder Tirado and me to shreds. It was growling and we froze. Its owner thankfully came and saved us though. The other two actually chased me. One was small and so I just kicked it and it left me alone the other was well... it was medium size and it chased us but we got away :) I felt like a real missionary ;)

 

So the mission office is out of everything except restoration pamphlets and a few more Book of Mormons. Anyways so we got some of the Book of Mormons and Elder Tirado and I were teaching a lesson and we gave one away and then we asked her to look up a scripture and it turns out the copies had been printed upside down!!!! I had just read a quote from Amberlee about how god works with imperfect people all the time and he deals with it and so should we, but this was just an example that our church isn't perfect! On the bright side I kept one of the BOMs for myself that was upside down :)

 

Today we went to a national park here. It’s called Parque Mirador Norte or something like that... it was really beautiful but while there I got fried like a lobster!! I thought I was used to being in the sun but nope. Our whole zone was there and we played volleyball and Frisbee and such. It was great.

 

Thanksgiving was great! We ate out after District Meeting like usual so that was good and then I went on my last exchange with Elder Tirado where we got our favorite mango drinks and then went to a family home evening and they gave us cake so it was great! I missed being with the whole family but I still enjoyed myself here.

 

 

Elder Christian Tanner - December 2, 2013

Well hello my wonderful family and friends.

I guess the best way to start his letter is by saying (drum rolls)............................................... WE GOT A BAPTISM this saturday!!! We went over to Hjalmar's house on Tuesday. We encouraged him that he can still quit snus by December 6th. But he said "No, I need more time than that. How about we make the new year our deadline. I will get baptized at the first of the year. New Year, New Man." So we said ok, BUT, 2 days later he calls me on the phone. "Hi. It's Hjalmar." He says. "Hi Hjalmar! How are you today?" Then he says "Just awful. I haven't taken a snus in 2 days. I am in a withdrawal right now." I was like "WHAT! HJALMAR! THAT IS SOOOO AWESOME!" and both me and Elder Peterson were FREAKING OUT. He only has to be off snus for 1 week in order to be baptized. So we are back on track for December 6th! Now, just a reminder on this guy. He has been investigating the church for 10 years. He has been snusing 8 packs a day for many years. He went from 8 to 2. Then from 2 to 0 in like a 32 hour period or something crazy like that. He told us "yeah I just woke up one morning, popped in a snus and it tasted disgusting. So I took it out, put in a Fishermans Friend (Fishermans Friend is just a breath mint, but has also been found to help quit snus). And since then, I didn't take a snus." So he's been off for 5 days! The first 3 days of quitting are the hardest. Then he came to church on Sunday which was fast and testimony meeting. He got up and bore his testimony and invited the whole ward to his baptism! IT WAS SO AWESOME! Now, the Bishop who is away in India this week, had no idea. Hjalmar wants the Bishop to baptism him. So we texted Bishop and said "hey bishop. Surprise, Hjalmar quit snus and is being baptized saturday at 6:00pm and you're baptizing him." He text back "perfect. I get home on Friday. Call me then." Super super super super awesome! FOR SURE I will be talking about his in my next letter, along with a bunch of pictures!

We've been on fire this week. The zone leaders have called several times saying "wow. you guys are doing such good work up there!" President came and interviewed us, also. We have 2 new investigators. We had like 15 lessons it's about the highest i have had in my entire mission. Its just been a killer week.

So today we went to Göteborg for the day. I love being in Göteborg. It brings back so many memories. I really hope I get to serve in Göteborg before my mission is over. It is such a neat city. We ended up meeting up with some Zone Leaders in the Västra Frölunda area, and our District Leader and his comp from Skövde, and the sisters from Trollhättan went too. It was really fun. We got McDonald's for lunch. When Swedes see 8 Americans all nicely dressed, it makes for good contacting. We sat next this guy at McDonald's and he just wanted to know everything about us. Nothing turned up of it unfortunately. But we also ended up talking to a sales clerk in a store. She seemed interested, but then nothing. Plus, there were several people that just come up to us and ask us for directions. Why? No idea. But, its really fun to see.

AHH I almost forgot! So after church yesterday we went over to Samuel, David, Bjorn and Andreas' house. All of them are Young Single Adults in our ward. Every Sunday we have institute at the Bishops wife house, but they are gone on vacation. So we went to their house instead. We had a pot luck dinner to go with institute. The 4 of them made RIS GRYNS GRÖT the sisters brought apple cake, and we brought bread. It was totally awesome! With the Ris gryns gröt, the Julmust, the open faced sandwiches, and the christmas music, it was just HEAVEN! It was so much fun. The 8 of us just having a good time and an amazing dinner. I honestly don't know what I would have done if I didn't go to Sweden on my mission. Its the best mission anywhere in the world. Sorry Sister Wood, this is better than frog legs. And sorry Elder Taylor, Elder Barlow, Elder Stilson, its not going to be a warm chirstmas here. I will stop bragging now ;) You're all awesome and I am proud of ALL my fellow ward members who are serving missions. But, yes. This is going to be a really good Christmas. I am really excited for Lucia on the 13th and then the 24th and 25th. Oh and by the way, since we celebrate christmas on the 24th in Sweden, that is the day I will call home. So, be prepare you family members of mine. I will let you know times when it gets closer.

Ok this letter just turned out to be pretty pathetic. I thought it would have been longer. I must be forgetting something. I need a rememberoll (from harry potter... ahahah get it... anyone?). I always forget to write something. Anyways, this will have to do. Frid ut! (Peace out)

Äldste Tanner

 

Sister Courtnee Wood - Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Nanay Batugal's baptism - look at that tiny little lady, so cute!!

Frog legs instead of turkey legs for thanksgiving

Hi everyone!

Sadly we won't be celebrating Thanksgiving here in the Philippines, and I will be missing the apple pie and stuffing, but that's okay. The missionary work goes on! :) 

This week we had interviews with president, and a training from sister barrientos. It was the best! Mom and Dad and the funniest people in the world. My interview with Dad consisted of laughing and joking the whole time. So of course I enjoyed it. Man I love people with a sense of humor. :) Speaking of humor, it is humorous to say that I ate frog the other day! Our ward mission leader fed it to us. It tastes just like chicken. But gosh, the thought of eating a frog is just too weird. Enjoy the pics! Oh yeah another funny thing. Remember the story of the screaming kid and all the naked kids swimming last week? Well this week we were in La Paz again and taught people close to the same place. All the little kids saw us there and immediately ran and took their clothes off and jumped in the water. Started climbing on rocks and jumping off them and yelling "AMERICANA AMERICANA!" They wanted us to take pictures of them hahaha. We didn't, but I was laughing so hard. 

The highlight of the week though was Nanay Batugal's baptism. Let me just tell you all htat we had been looking forward to this day for the longest time. Since I got here pretty much. We got to the church and she wasn't there yet. Her and Joey finally rolled up in a tricy, and we immediately took her to put her white clothes on. When she walked out of the bathroom in her little white jumpsuit I about died. Yes that is a youth size jumpsuit and the bottoms still had to be rolled up a ton. So cute. Little Louie who is in the ward also was getting baptized, he is 8 years old. The program begun and the Spirit was so strong. The other sister missionaries sang kailangan ko kayo, and then a sister mae joy who is preparing for a misson gave a talk on baptism. The Spirit was more strong at this baptism than in any other that I had been to here. After the program we went downstairs to the baptismal font. Joey (her grandson) was baptizing her. Nanay is so old and fragile, so she had so much faith. They got in the water and Joey baptized her, and it was absolutely perfect. After she came up from the water, she hugged and held on to joey tighter than anyone I have seen. It was the most tender moment EVER! The Spirit was so strong, and of course I shed a tear or two. Joey baptized little Louie as well. He did such an amazing job. We were so proud of him and we know Heavenly Father was too! It was an amazing baptism. How happy I am to be able to be the instrument in the Lord's hands and help Nanay come closer to our savior. 

One of my favorite lessons we taught this week was to Tatay Fermin and his son Brian (20). Their family isn't yet sealed in the temple so we taught about eternal marriage. It was such a powerful lesson. There is just so much power in the temple! We talked with them about why you need to get married in the temple, and showed them a bunch of pictures of the temple and pictures of our siblings that have been married in the temple. You could feel the Spirit so strong during it. Showed them how happy they are because of it. They have a goal to go to the temple and I want to help them get there so bad. I know that if we always keep our sight on the temple, we will be able to go there. I am so excited for one day to be able to go to the temple and be married there. Definitely will be like the greatest day of my life. :) 

We got a referral a while ago for a less active family in La Paz. Other missionaries had run in to them in the Centro or something and had written their name down. We had it for a while until the other day i remembered it, so while we were in la paz we went looking for them. Somehow we happened to find someone who were family with this Agacir family, so they led us right there. When we were walking up to their house, they came outside. I have never seen a family so happy to see us missionaries in my life!!! They kept saying pasok pasok (come in, come in!) over and over. So yes of course we went inside. We sat down and they preceeded to tell us that they had been waiting for us. They had been waiting for the missionaries to come because they wanted to go back to church so badlly. SUpposedly they moved to La Paz from san nicholas so didn't really know the wards or anything. (i mean that is no excuse). But We were an answer to their prayers! We found out that the mom and dad are members, and they have 4 kids all over the age of 9 that aren't members. So we are so excited to start teaching the whole family. After finding the Agacir family it just made me think of all of the other people who are just waiting to be found and rescued. Whether they are less active, or not members yet. I just want to encourage you all to find a less active memeber. Find someone who needs the gospel. And friendship them and invite them to go back to church. Heavenly Father wants all of His children back in the fold of the Gospel, and it is our job to help Him. I know that your life will be blessed, but most importantly the lives of the people you touch!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! It's the greatest time of the year! :) 

Love,

Sister Wood 

P.S. Will someone PLEASE keep me updated on the NCAA tournament? It's not like my team is playing in it or anything... :) haha. 

P.S.S. it is so funny because in tagalog you can change any noun or anything into a verb. I was laughing so hard the other day when i heard someone used "freak." Magfrfreak siya. She will freak out. Hahaha. Life is more fun in Tagalog, i promise! 

 

Elder Almen Thorpe - November 24, 2013

First trip to New Zealand Temple

Hey mom and dad! Well first thing is that I got the camera to work! But the bad news is I don't have a clue how to up load the pictures. Sad day for Elder Thorpe...I'll figure it out soon.

Anyways, thanks so much for emailing me and for the early Thanksgiving present. I love the nerf guns!!! My companion and the two other companions living with us in the flat also have nerf guns. We sure use them quite often. Tell Amy and Spencer and their two sweet little girls that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures they drew for me of thumbprint turkey's. I had a huge grin on my face. I'm a happy uncle.

My companion is Elder Jarnagin as you probably know from the email that the President sent to you. He's from Arizona and is very funny. For being a trainer he's good at teaching me on what I need to do and what I shouldn't be doing. We are working on how to communicate, learn from each other and how to help the souls in need. Auckland mission has a memo, it is to "save souls weekly". On my first day out in the field I had the opportunity to ask an investigator to be baptized and he accepted it. We also had another one on Sunday who said he would be baptized. We also had a baptism on Saturday with a nine year old. His name is John Thomas. Now he and is family are active in the church. Talk about all happening right away in the start of the mission! I'm still trying to get the hang of this mission life as well. Every day I'm learning something new, not just for myself but also for the people we talk to. Me being shy, well that's gone cause now I talk to almost everybody who we see or who is walking on the same side of the road as us.

Today is P-days for us and I'm happy to hear that the family is doing very well! Oh and everybody here is having a hard time saying our last name on my name tag, so my new nickname is "Elder Thor". I know right...cool, all I'm missing is my hammer. All the families here are lovely, they don't have much but they still have the smile on their faces and are happy to be in the gospel.

MOM! They don't have a dryer so we have to air dry our clothes. I'm blessed to have a dryer at home but I'm learning the new ways in New Zealand to dry the old school style.

Love you guys so much!, lots more to come! Give the fam hugs and kisses for me! Love your son Elder Thorpe

Temple Grounds

 

Elder Brandon Wallis - November 25, 2013

I love being a Missionary! With the Thanksgiving season I feel it only appropriate to include some key things that I am thankful for. I'm thankful to be a full time representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the spirit that I feel when I do my part. I'm thankful for my family and the wonderful example they are to me and specifically to my parents for raising me in the Gospel. I'm thankful for my sister and for her uplifting personality. I'm grateful for my Church leaders and how much they have helped me in the past and how they continue to help me in the present. I'm also thankful for trials bikes... ; )

 

The work here in the town of Los Alamos has really been picking up. Enough so that the Lord has seen fit to call another set of Missionaries to work here as well! It'll be interesting and very exciting. This might be a small place, but there is still so much to do! We're getting more and more excited about the Johnson family. Scott, the father, and Jona, the son, have been participating in the lessons and it's been wonderful to see the change that has been going on in their home! The Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly bringing them closer as a family. Marcella Walker is still doing well. She is convinced that she will get Baptized but is having trouble picking a specific date. The members have been very key in getting her interested in the Church and keeping commitments. We found a new investigator named Pete that we are very excited about. He is 49 and currently separated from his family. He neeeeeds the gospel!!! He is already a very religious guy and we're hoping that he will recognize the truth that is here in the Church of Jesus Christ.

 

I love this Church, and I love being a Missionary.

 

Love, Elder Wallis

 

Elder Xavier Stilson - November 25, 2013

Oi todo mundo! Todo bom?? Aqui em  Conilândia todo é perfeito!;) Well, that is about the extent of my Portuguese.  Haha, just kidding. This week has been really good and my Portuguese is getting  a little better every day! I also have a goal to not have ANY of my American  accent left by my one year mark. It’s hard but everyday that gets better too!

Well P-day we went to the Convento  da Penha! This is a HUGE Catholic Church on top of one of the Morros here in  Vila Velha! When you are on the top you can see the Third Bridge which is  AWESOME!! It is the thing to see when you are in Espirito Santo! The HUGE Chocolate  factory here in Vila Velha is another big tourist attraction and we are going  to visit it on the 2nd of December.

This week was awesome though!!! We didn’t  have any baptisms but we have 3 marked for the 7th of December! Their names are  Lucas, Daniel, and Gabriel! These are 3 young kids that we met on the street.  Daniel was the first that we contacted and we went back to his house and his  mom was really interested in our message as well! We want her to be baptized  but she smokes so that pushes her date back just a little bit. But while we  were teaching Daniel and his mother, Gabriel shows up. Daniel and Gabriel are  twins so it was kind of funny when he came in! But then he started to listen  and really liked the message. Then Lucas came in. He is very timid and didn’t  say anything the first visit but when we went back he came and sat down by  himself and loved the message!!! We went back a third time and they had all  read the Intro to the BOM but Lucas read up to 1 Nephi 2! When he got to the pictures  he read all the descriptions as well as the scriptures!!!! He is VERY Bible  smart and when we talked about everything in the bible he knew all the answers  but accepted the "new" doctrine. He says that he LOVES the BOM! That  is amazing!!! They are great kids and will be even better Missionaries!!!

We were supposed to have a baptism  this week but it fell through because the Lady says she isn’t quite ready. We  have done everything we can with her and the spirit is so strong when we teach  her but Satan is working on her NONSTOP!!! It is really frustrating working  with someone to the point of baptism and then have it fall through, especially  when they have a testimony.  I guess this is just one of the frustrations of  being a missionary. We are going to continue to work with her and I know that one  day she will be baptized.   

I wish we were given more time to  email.  There is so much more I would  like to share with you all but I am out of time. I would like to thank those of  you who have written me! You really have no idea how much those letters mean to  me and how some of the simple things you have said have meant the world to me. I  love reading your letters and if you have time, please write a little note  about how your family is doing when you send your Christmas card so I can have  something to write back!!!:) AND DONT FORGET THE CHRISTMAS CARD!!!;) Haha well  I love you all so much. God speed be with you!

One more quick thing, this Saturday and  Sunday we had an opportunity to hear from Elder Môroni Torgan of the 70 and he  talked a lot about missionary work with members! Missionary work is so hard  sometimes. 90 percent of our success comes from member referrals! SOMEONE you  know needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They either need a blessing or prayer or  service or SOMETHING! Please share these people with the missionaries! Even if  you are afraid, talk to the missionaries, they will be able to help you. We don’t  want to push people away. The missionaries don’t even have to talk about the  Gospel in the beginning.  Just having the  opportunity to meet with them and find things that they need is the perfect way  for the spirit to reach these people’s hearts. Have faith!! And if you have wavering  faith as Peter did while walking on water, or the un-surety of the man who  brought his son to Christ, do as they did!!! Pray to Heavenly Father and ask  him for faith to be able to reach out to these friends and neighbors! I have a  testimony about this! It is so hard to approach random people on the street every  day.  I ask Heavenly Father to help me  with my faith to be able to overcome this and talk to everyone!!! HE WILL HELP  YOU just like he is helping me!!! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

LOVE,
  Elder Stilson