August 15, 2011, email post from NEW ADDRESS in Laredo

Dear Family,

Well, this week was the first week of a new experience for me. The new missionary from the MTC arrived, Elder Stewart, from Ogden, Utah. It's interesting going into an area blind with a new missionary. You both walk in just kind of wide eyed and excited, without any real idea of what to do. I'm also in a bike area for the first time in my mission, which makes for an interesting experience as well. Working on bikes is a bit of a different approach than working in a car, but both are pretty great. Our area is also pretty big for a bike area, which is gonna make sure that my legs get pretty buff.

I don't think I've ever had a night of eight hours of sleep that has felt so short before. The biking and the sun manage to take a lot out of you, which has its ups and downs. You can eat just about as much as you want without getting full, since you body is just looking for calories wherever it can get them, and you can fall asleep at night in about a minute. Only problem is it feels like you wake up a minute later, only to realize 8 hours have past. Overall I'm really enjoying the area though, and it seems like it has a lot of potential. We've had a couple of cool experiences where we've found some great people who seem like they could really progress. For example, we walked down this one street and didn't knock any doors, but both felt impressed to knock a specific one. We found a lady who had been taught by elders two years ago, but they had lost track of her when the area got changed from an Elde'rs area to a Sister's area. We should be teaching her tonight and hopefully she'll be ready to start progressing to baptism.

Speaking of sister missionaries, Amy is on a mission?? That's awesome! James just got home and now Amy is going out huh. Taiwan will be an interesting mission I'm sure. Too bad she and James will be speaking different languages. Where is James at right now? Is he going back to school later this month or is he already off somewhere else?

My new address is...

Elder Roland Wood

4420 Loring #9

Laredo, TX, 78040

As far as birthday packages go... I have no idea. I'll think about it this week and hopefully get back to you next week. I don't need any more white shirts. All of mine have lasted so far, and are doing pretty well. A new belt could also be sent, but mine is still good so far. I'll be praying for JoAnn this week, and I hope everything will go well for her until her c-section date.

I hope everybody has a great week and things go well/get better.

Love,

Elder Wood

August 8, 2001, email from Laredo TX

Dear Family,

Well, this has been a very exciting week. We found another small family that has a baptismal date and came to church this week. Carolina and her four kids seem like they could make a lot of progress over the next couple weeks. I have faith that they will be able to prepare for their goal of being baptized on the 28th of August. The mission hit over 100 baptisms in June and July, which is quite the feat. I remember I was here when the mission hit over 100 baptisms for the first time in history a few months back. Now we're on our way to doing it consistently. I'm sure it is due to the blessings and tender mercies of the Lord. I'm excited for the people that we are working with right now. I know that with some good spiritual nourishment and a lot of love, soon they'll be ready to make a covenant with their Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, I won't be here to see that progression. I'm being transferred tomorrow to a new area. The new area is still in Laredo, but I'll be moving further up north. In fact, the area is going from a Sister's area to an Elder's area, so I'll be going in with my new companion who's coming straight from the MTC! I'm not sure if it will be a bike area or not yet, but all signs seem to point to yes.

I'm very excited for this new opportunity. I know it's going to be a lot of work, require a good bit of sacrifice and probably test my faith. During the process I'm sure we'll become stronger missionaries and find a good bit of success. I'll be attending a new chapel. The building in the north and we will probably only be covering one ward. Having only three hours of church on Sunday instead of six (because of both an English and Spanish branch) is going to be a weird experience from the rest of my mission. I'm not sure of what my new address will be, because where we are living is not really certain yet. I might be moving in with two other elders and living out of my area or the mission might just find a new apartment. We'll see. I'm excited to be staying in Laredo though, this really is a great place.

I'm sad to be leaving my companion Elder Piena, after only one transfer. He is a great missionary and we had a lot of fun together. I'm sure he'll do good work here in Larga Vista though and do all he can to help the people here.

I was happy to hear that the service for Calvin went well. I hope everybody had a chance to reflect a little on their covenants and just how important they are. If you haven't read the talk, "The Power of Covenants" by D. Todd Christofferson, I would suggest it. It's very powerful and helps put the importance of obedience into perspective.

Happy birthday to those that had theirs in August. I think I'm a little late for Christian, but I'm sure he can forgive me. Hopefully Ben and Nathan can have a good birthday as well, and anybody else I forgot (which I probably did).

To answer Mom's question, all of my clothes still fit fine. I walked through one pair of my shoes, but I still have one good pair and a pair of Sunday shoes. (Not to mention my boots as well if worse comes to worst.) I've been thinking about getting some contacts though, as my glasses get kind of annoying, especially when I sweat a lot. If I go to a bike area, that's pretty much going to be a given.

I hope baby Riggins does well this week, and I know the Lord is there helping everything move along. Please give my regards to Petrine Squires as well, I'm sure she must be having a hard time. It's always hard to see something tragic happen to someone who has spent so much time sacrificing on your (and many other's) behalf.

I'll be writing you from the new area next week!

Love,

Elder Wood

August 1, 2011, email post from Laredo, TX

Dear Family,

I am grateful for the Gospel. Few people have what we have. I am eternally thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us and who set forth the great plan of happiness. One of my favorite quotes from Preach My Gospel has always been, "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I can't imagine the difficulty of a challenge like this, but I do know that God has all power in heaven and earth, and if we ask Him, He can give us the strength to overcome whatever trial we may face. Jesus Christ suffered all things. He went beneath all things, so that he could lift us up, together with those we love, back into the presence of the Father.

I'm grateful to know that heaven is a real place. And I'm thankful that I know that there are people there waiting for me. I wasn't able to meet Calvin before he moved on to the next world, but I know that I will meet him someday. The blessings of the Gospel are eternal, of that I'm sure. The Lord has promised an eternal family, and he can never take away that blessing. We can only take it away from ourselves. I know that Calvin will be the son of Warren and Mel Wood eternally, and that they will always be his parents. And one day, very soon in the perspective of eternity, they will be reunited, never to be apart again. I didn't always know that, but I'm glad that I do.

The kids of the family that we have been teaching got baptized yesterday. The mom still needs to attend church. She works on Sundays and the dad doesn't seem too interested, but the kids are great and were very excited. They have a good group of friends in high school that are members of the church as well. They should be set to stay active. We're going to be working more with the mom over the coming weeks in order to help her find a way not to work in order to attend church with her kids and get baptized. I hope that soon this family will be able to take part in all the blessings of the Gospel. I've come to learn that everyone needs it now whether they realize it or not, because when the day comes when they have trials or tragedies they will need the comfort that can only come through the Gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I'll be finding out this week if I'm staying in Laredo or going to a different place. I would imagine I'll be staying here but you never know. A large portion of the mission leadership will be changing and a lot of people will be training. We'll see what will happen. I suspect I'll stick here with Elder Piena for at least another transfer.

Know I love you and that God loves you too. Families are eternal. I know it and so do you.

Love,

Elder Wood