Dear Family,
This past week turns out to be a great week for everyone! I was ecstatic to hear about the news of baby Dot, and that everything turned out all right. She will be another great addition to the family and the Wood/Chan clans. I'm grateful for the help and support that the Lord is currently putting into our family and for the many blessings we have received. In mission news, my companion and I had three baptisms, yesterday. Juana Maria, a fifty something year old woman, her daughter (Katy, 11) and her grand daughter (Yuliana, 8) were baptized. The zone leaders, who live in the same house that I do, also had two baptisms, making five people baptized. And, surprisingly enough, each person being baptized had selected a different person to baptize them, so we had ten people in white! Unfortunately, I forgot the cord for my camera today, but pictures will follow next week.
In news of the Texas McAllen mission, this last month was historic as well. With the effort put in by the missionaries here and the help of the Lord, 114 people were baptized in the month of January. This is the highest number of people being baptized in a single month in the history of the entire mission. (The next highest was just a few short of 100.) So, it was a great week for the mission and it puts us right on track for the goal that President Trayner set of 1200 baptisms for the year of 2011. This past Sunday was also a great day for our companionship when we had nine investigators attend church, another high so far for my mission. God has seen fit to bless us here in South Texas, and I hope that the other missionaries and I will be able to remain humble to continue inviting the hand of the Lord in our work.
Juana Maria and her family were an interesting group to teach, though we hadn't known them for too long a time. Juana Maria had been an investigator of Elder Arens and Elder Payne (the elder who was here before me). She had progressed very well up until the point that I got here. When I arrived we had a horrible time trying to get in contact wit her, and we could never find her home. We were starting to lose hope. However, we finally committed to one last try after about a week and a half of trying and we were able to catch her home. After talking a bit, we discovered that she still wanted to be baptized, but had just been working like crazy because her family is desperately poor. She had mostly been taught everything at that point, but then she introduced us to her daughter and grand daughter who we then started to teach. Luckily they had both been to church with her the past two times they went, so they were all able to be baptized on the same date.
Juana Maria's grandfather was a member of the church, and when she was little he would read parts of the Book of Mormon to her as she went to sleep. This was a big step in her conversion. She has a great testimony of the church and is committed to being a solid, consistent member and to paying her tithing to receive more of the Lord's help.
Teaching Katy and Yuliana was an interesting experience because we only had about a week to teach them all that they needed to know in order to be baptized. So basically, we had two big lessons that contained all that they needed to know and used all the pictures, hand signals and pneumonics we could to help them learn. Everything turned out fine and they were able to learn the history of the church and all the commandments. However, Yuliana did have a bit of a freak-out before her baptism. She is an eight year old girl who stresses over school a lot and always has to win at whatever she's doing. So, she felt like the baptismal interview was going to be like a test or exam and was terrified that she was going to fail. However, after some talking and reassuring, she had her interview and left with a smile.
The Lord has helped the Texas McAllen mission and my family greatly this week, and has seen fit to pour out blessings upon us. I'm grateful for the help that He has given and the opportunity that I have to be an instrument in His hands. I hope everyone continues to do well and keeps being prospered by the Lord. I know He lives and that He is doing everything He can to help and protect our family. Just remember to continue having faith and allow God to keep working miracles!
Love,
Elder Wood
