Hi Everyone!
This past week in the field has been a tough one, but nonetheless everything has been going all right. A couple of significant things happened and I'll be sure to get those written down.
The biggest thing that happened this past week was that I got dropped for the first time! this last Monday, after I sent off my email home, we came back to our apartment where we got a call from our investigator Sandra. We hadn't been able to contact her all weekend and we were super excited that she had actually put forth the effort and called us. In the lesson we had previously with her she seemed really interested and had accepted a baptismal invitation, so we were really excited to keep teaching her. However, when she called she told us that she was grateful for us coming by, but we wouldn't need to visit her anymore. I'm not really sure what happened between last week and now, but either way I was super bummed. It's surprising exactly how close it feels to a break-up. At one point she said, "But maybe you can come over for dinner sometime" which I took as, "We're breaking up, but we can still be friends."
So, that had me really frustrated on Monday, but then on Tuesday we had interviews with President Trayner and a short zone meeting. In the meeting we had a great discussion about the elect, and President did a lot to motivate us to go back out into the field and work. It was great because after getting dropped by one of our most promising investigators, it was exactly what I needed at the time.
On Saturday, I went on exchanges to Edinburgh with one of the Zone Leaders and had a really good experience over there. I learned a lot about contacting and how to teach powerfully, which has really helped me so far. Most of our lessons that day were in Spanish, but I was able to understand and express most of what I wanted to, which was a really nice experience as I can see my Spanish improving. However, I will admit, Elder Johnson's Spanish is probably already better than mine, since he is immersed in it down in Peru. On an interesting side note, my trainer's trainer, Elder Neyra, was from Arequipa, Peru, but he's already gone home now, so I'm unable to ask him any questions to give to Elder Johnson.
The only other really interesting thing that has happened this week is that we found a young man, Hector, who seems very motivated to investigate the Church. We ran into him contacting in the street, but we were talking mostly to his friend who was with him. However, when we started talking about the Church, Hector piped up in Spanish and asked where it was. After seeing how interested he was, we told him how to get there and asked if we could drop by to teach him sometime. I was in Edinburgh when my companion and the other Zone Leader taught him, but apparently everything went over really well and then he came to Church on Sunday, full of questions for us. He has a lot of questions about moral issues related to the commandments, but hopefully soon we'll be able to teach him about the power of prayer and study and get him started on answering his own questions.
Other than that, all is well in Donna. Oh, before I forget, we're getting our first tie bale today! It should get here sometime this afternoon, a good solid 1000 pounds of ties. (That's the number the other Elder told me. Needless to say, the rest of my day will be spent sifting through that and picking out the best ones. And the best part is, with 5 of us chipping in on it, it only cost me $9! That's less than I paid for one tie back in Virginia! I'll be sure to bring my camera to that and hopefully get some pictures. I do have some pictures to send home. So far I have been a failure at writing letters and sending the pictures off, but hopefully that will all change soon.
I was very glad to hear about all the festivities going on at home. Be sure to give a belated Happy Birthday to Sarah for me! I hope everyone has a good week and everything goes well. The Gospel is true!
Love,
Elder Wood
October 16, 2010
October 7, 2010
Email from Donna, TX, October 7, 2010
Hello Everyone!
All is going well here in Donna, and things are moving along, but it seems they're not going too quickly. I'll talk about that in just a minute. First I need to be sure to answer all of Mom's questions so I don't forget.
As far as receiving meals here in Donna, we do a fair amount of eating in Member's homes, but a couple of nights each week we end up eating at our apartment. So far here I'm doing a pretty amazing job of cooking for myself, in my opinion. The first week or so I ate only cereal, but that got old really fast. So I committed myself to vary my diet and work to prepare my food. So far it has been going really well. Currently I'm making eggs and toast for a normal breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and chicken and vegetables for dinner. Also, Mom doesn't have to worry because I make myself a fruit smoothie every day, out of actual bananas strawberries and whatnot, so I think I've got all my food groups covered. The one thing I will admit, is that this is all pretty cheap compared to what I thought it would be. I figured just living on cereal and milk was cheaper, but with buying all this other stuff, I'm still well under my allotted money per month. (My only junk food consists of a soda once every couple of days and whatever treats people send to me in the mail.)
My P-days here are pretty fun, and normally go something like this: We spend an hour at the gym in the morning and come back and do our laundry. There is a laundromat near our apartment in Donna which has all these really fancy "space age" washers and dryers, but unfortunately it is a bit expensive. Fortunately, the man who owns the laundromat (Dave) has a wife and kids who are LDS. He pays for the missionaries to wash their clothes. After our laundry, we go out and do some activities with our district. For example, today a member is paying for us to go bowling, and after that we're headed over to the town park to play volleyball, which should be pretty fun. After that we've got dinner at a member's house and we'll finish up the day proselyting.
The chapel we attend isn't in Donna, but is in the next town over--Weslaco. The building serves members in Mercedes, Weslaco and Donna, the three cities near here. The good news is that the members here are so numerous and strong that we have to get a larger chapel to accommodate all of them and our recent converts. However, the bad news is that the church is under construction and we can't meet in that building for about a year. So the ward is currently meeting in a rented out adult day-care center. It's not a bad building, but the lack of a built in speaker system, and hard walls that echo kids' cries make it hard for our investigators to hear what is going on during the meeting. The solution is for us to have our investigators sit up front, but it's still a bit of a hassle and not quite as nice as a chapel. However, I am still very grateful for the fact that we have a nice building to meet in, because I know that many missionaries don't even have that luxury.
As an interesting side note that I am sure Dad will appreciate, the LDS Chapel not here, but in McAllen has a similar history to the chapel in Arlington. Like the chapel in Arlington, it was built by the members a while back. Now some of the older members in that ward can point out the rocks that they brought and cemented in place to help build the back wall of the chapel. If Dad is interested in more information on that chapel, I can probably do that.
Now I've got a few minutes to talk about why things have been moving a little bit slowly here in Donna. We have a few really good investigators, but they all seem to be really busy families, and finding them at home is difficult, except for the weekends. Meeting with someone once a week is much less than ideal, and it has been kind of a frustration to me out here. Ideally, we should be meeting or at least contacting our solid investigators every day, but doing that has been really hard. I know that life in the real world goes on, but especially as a missionary, it is hard to have someone not be able to find the time to meet with you. You know just how much it can help them and how much it could bless their lives.
Other than that, the work is progressing well here in the field, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here among the Lord's servants. Speaking of the Lord's servants, how great was Conference!? It's amazing to hear the prophet and the apostles speak to us as a Church, directly, and receive the advice and council the Lord wants us to hear in our day. I don't have too much time, but I'll relay just a quick thought I liked from Conference.
I cannot remember who said it, since I don't have my journal with me right now, but I really liked this idea: (I think it was President Eyring, but I'm not sure.) There are three ways to learn from the scriptures. First is to read the scriptures, which is good. We may learn something about a principle or doctrine we didn't understand before. Second, is to study the scriptures, which is better. When we study the scriptures we can make connections between passages that support and testify of each other, and use them to strengthen our testimonies and the testimonies of others. Third, is to ponder the scriptures, which is the best. When we ponder, we do both of the other methods, and then sit back and think. We think about the wonderful miracles of God, His power, and His love. When we ponder, that is when revelation comes.
I add my testimony to this, that when we study and read the scriptures, the majority of learning comes from thought and supplication before the Lord. When we ponder the mysteries of God, our relationship with him, and the meaning and significance of the Atonement of His Only Begotten Son, and humbly kneel ourselves before him in prayer, he will answer the questions of our souls. I have come to a knowledge of the truth of this here in the mission field. I know that if anyone will submit this method to the test, they too will know that prayers are heard and answered.
I give my best to everyone this coming week, and I hope that your lives are coming along well. I would love to hear about them. If anyone can find the time to write, I promise that even if it takes me a while, you will get a reply back. Thanks to all that have already written me, and I hope that everyone is doing well.
Love,
Elder Wood
All is going well here in Donna, and things are moving along, but it seems they're not going too quickly. I'll talk about that in just a minute. First I need to be sure to answer all of Mom's questions so I don't forget.
As far as receiving meals here in Donna, we do a fair amount of eating in Member's homes, but a couple of nights each week we end up eating at our apartment. So far here I'm doing a pretty amazing job of cooking for myself, in my opinion. The first week or so I ate only cereal, but that got old really fast. So I committed myself to vary my diet and work to prepare my food. So far it has been going really well. Currently I'm making eggs and toast for a normal breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and chicken and vegetables for dinner. Also, Mom doesn't have to worry because I make myself a fruit smoothie every day, out of actual bananas strawberries and whatnot, so I think I've got all my food groups covered. The one thing I will admit, is that this is all pretty cheap compared to what I thought it would be. I figured just living on cereal and milk was cheaper, but with buying all this other stuff, I'm still well under my allotted money per month. (My only junk food consists of a soda once every couple of days and whatever treats people send to me in the mail.)
My P-days here are pretty fun, and normally go something like this: We spend an hour at the gym in the morning and come back and do our laundry. There is a laundromat near our apartment in Donna which has all these really fancy "space age" washers and dryers, but unfortunately it is a bit expensive. Fortunately, the man who owns the laundromat (Dave) has a wife and kids who are LDS. He pays for the missionaries to wash their clothes. After our laundry, we go out and do some activities with our district. For example, today a member is paying for us to go bowling, and after that we're headed over to the town park to play volleyball, which should be pretty fun. After that we've got dinner at a member's house and we'll finish up the day proselyting.
The chapel we attend isn't in Donna, but is in the next town over--Weslaco. The building serves members in Mercedes, Weslaco and Donna, the three cities near here. The good news is that the members here are so numerous and strong that we have to get a larger chapel to accommodate all of them and our recent converts. However, the bad news is that the church is under construction and we can't meet in that building for about a year. So the ward is currently meeting in a rented out adult day-care center. It's not a bad building, but the lack of a built in speaker system, and hard walls that echo kids' cries make it hard for our investigators to hear what is going on during the meeting. The solution is for us to have our investigators sit up front, but it's still a bit of a hassle and not quite as nice as a chapel. However, I am still very grateful for the fact that we have a nice building to meet in, because I know that many missionaries don't even have that luxury.
As an interesting side note that I am sure Dad will appreciate, the LDS Chapel not here, but in McAllen has a similar history to the chapel in Arlington. Like the chapel in Arlington, it was built by the members a while back. Now some of the older members in that ward can point out the rocks that they brought and cemented in place to help build the back wall of the chapel. If Dad is interested in more information on that chapel, I can probably do that.
Now I've got a few minutes to talk about why things have been moving a little bit slowly here in Donna. We have a few really good investigators, but they all seem to be really busy families, and finding them at home is difficult, except for the weekends. Meeting with someone once a week is much less than ideal, and it has been kind of a frustration to me out here. Ideally, we should be meeting or at least contacting our solid investigators every day, but doing that has been really hard. I know that life in the real world goes on, but especially as a missionary, it is hard to have someone not be able to find the time to meet with you. You know just how much it can help them and how much it could bless their lives.
Other than that, the work is progressing well here in the field, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here among the Lord's servants. Speaking of the Lord's servants, how great was Conference!? It's amazing to hear the prophet and the apostles speak to us as a Church, directly, and receive the advice and council the Lord wants us to hear in our day. I don't have too much time, but I'll relay just a quick thought I liked from Conference.
I cannot remember who said it, since I don't have my journal with me right now, but I really liked this idea: (I think it was President Eyring, but I'm not sure.) There are three ways to learn from the scriptures. First is to read the scriptures, which is good. We may learn something about a principle or doctrine we didn't understand before. Second, is to study the scriptures, which is better. When we study the scriptures we can make connections between passages that support and testify of each other, and use them to strengthen our testimonies and the testimonies of others. Third, is to ponder the scriptures, which is the best. When we ponder, we do both of the other methods, and then sit back and think. We think about the wonderful miracles of God, His power, and His love. When we ponder, that is when revelation comes.
I add my testimony to this, that when we study and read the scriptures, the majority of learning comes from thought and supplication before the Lord. When we ponder the mysteries of God, our relationship with him, and the meaning and significance of the Atonement of His Only Begotten Son, and humbly kneel ourselves before him in prayer, he will answer the questions of our souls. I have come to a knowledge of the truth of this here in the mission field. I know that if anyone will submit this method to the test, they too will know that prayers are heard and answered.
I give my best to everyone this coming week, and I hope that your lives are coming along well. I would love to hear about them. If anyone can find the time to write, I promise that even if it takes me a while, you will get a reply back. Thanks to all that have already written me, and I hope that everyone is doing well.
Love,
Elder Wood
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