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
Love,
Elder Wood
