December 5, 2011, email post from Brownsville, TX

Dear Family,

Merry Navidad! (Tex-Mex, sorry)

Well, I don't know how the weather is where everyone is at, but here it's about 65 degrees. Nice sweater weather if you ask me. Well, we had a great week! I'm gonna start going backwards from Sunday and see what I can remember about what happened.

Yesterday the coolest event was probably when we got to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I don't know if you all got to see it, but it was great. I liked all of the messages given. I always catch myself thinking how great of a story teller President Monson is. He told the story of Scrooge and "The Mansion" during the devotional. I caught myself thinking during the story of "The Mansion", how cool would it be to be one of President Monson's grandchildren. You'd get to hear that kind of stuff all the time. Well, not all the time I'm sure because he's constantly involved in the work, but you get what I mean.

The District is doing really well. We started the month off with three baptisms, and we have more scheduled to come over the next two weeks. I don't think we have any Christmas baptisms scheduled yet, but you never know. There's still time. I really do like being a district leader. It's a great opportunity to stretch and see what I can do better. I'm still learning. I've got a bunch of things I could be doing better, but I think that I've progressed a lot since the first week. Follow up calls are still interesting. I need to get better at those, but overall I think this is a great experience.

We had a miracle this last week with an investigator. I'm not sure if I wrote about it or not, so I'll just do a brief synopsis. We had an investigator a few weeks back who was doing really well. Then all of the sudden shee fell off when she talked to her mom about everything she was learning and planning to do. Her mom said no. So, we kept in minimal contact with her for a few weeks, mostly through texts. Then, after a few weeks we were in the neighborhood and we stopped by her house just to see if we could see how she was doing. We knocked and her mom opened the door. I figured it might be the only opportunity that we had to talk to her and explain our side of the story. So, we started talking to her and after some powerful testimony and a lot of questions, we were able to gain her permission to teach her daughter again. So, we left and we called the daughter, but no answer. That lasted for like a day or two, so we thought that maybe the mom had talked to the daughter afterwards and had said not to talk to us or something like that. So we were kind of bummed. Then, one day we were in a parking lot waiting to meet a member. It turned out to be the wrong parking lot, but the daughter rolled into the gas station to fill up her car. We called her over and talked to her and she said that she and her mom had talked and that everything was good for us to teach her again. We've been teaching her this past week and she's doing great. She's preparing for baptism in January and hopefully soon I can give you more stories about her. It's funny how the Lord works miracles. Small and simple things really do make the difference.

Going back to the Christmas Devotional, I had heard about the new videos of Christ about six months ago and have been waiting to see them for soooo long. It was great to see the one of the birth of Christ, it was awesome! I hope we get to show those to our investigators soon. If you didn't get to see it you should. It's probably on the website, but I haven't checked.

I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit, or, as President Monson would say, the Christ Spirit. Lights are starting to go up all over town here, and things will get pretty festive over the next coming weeks, I imagine. I also liked the part of President Monson's talk when he said all things happened, "because He came." I have often thought about just how momentous that night was, even if it did pass by without much notice. I think few people there really understood just how much influence and meaning the birth of that baby had. I don't think I really fully comprehend it still. We all come to know our Savior piece by piece, and I don't think we ever really stop building that puzzle in this life. We know soon it will become complete, and I rejoice in the hope that that day is going to come.

I really do love Christmas. It's a great time of year. I hope I can treasure it, especially my last Christmas in the mission field. Ack, I shouldn't have said that, now I'm all depressed and nostalgic, oh well. I love you all and I love hearing about the Wood families. I often pull out a picture of our family in lessons and tell people how my family has been blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. You all are great examples to me and some of my investigators in South Texas, keep it up :).

As far as packages Mom, just send them to my apartment address, the mission office takes like an extra four weeks to get you anything. I'm glad mom survived her fall, and that Rose-Ellen is feeling a bit better. You'll be in my prayers, don't worry.

Love,

Elder Wood

Nov. 21, 2001, Email post from Brownsville, TX

Dear Family,

Wow, Thanksgiving is this week?? When did that happen?

The time has been flying by. I can't believe November is almost over. They're already playing Christmas music and everything in the WalMart here. It's kind of freaking me out. We had a good week this last week. We had some rough days and some better days, but overall I'm happy with the work we did. Oh, Mom, I got the package off in the hands of the Post office guy, so it should be to Jonathan and Emily pretty soon.

Well, time to start with the random stories from the week. We started a mission this last week to find the best taqueria (taco place) in our area. We've eaten at two so far, and I will admit, Rey del Taco is not nearly as good as Taco Tampico. And get this, Taco Tampico is cheaper too! Dad has a debt to the Mexican people now, because they've made me fall in love with avocados, something I'm sure he'll be proud of. I've decided that my favorite kind of meat is either Barbacoa (face meat of either a pig or cow) or Deshebrada (kind of like a roast beef type thing). But you can never go wrong with a good old bistek. The only thing that makes me sad is that barbacoa is kind of like a special thing around here. They only make it on Saturday and Sundays, which only gives me one day to go and get some.

Elder Marble, my companion is really funny. We started a challenge this last week to try and purify ourselves, or only focus on missionary things. We fasted and wrote lists of the things that normally distracted us, and I will admit, his list made me laugh a little bit. Two of the things on his list were food and farming. Oddly enough, I didn't realize how much we talk about food during the day until we tried to stop doing it. Anyways, everything is going pretty well and we're having a fun time.

Our district is doing really well. It's filled with powerhouse missionaries and fired up greenies which makes for a pretty powerful group, as well as some hilarious moments. Elder Marble has had some pretty funny Spanish moments so far, but he is learning and I'm sure he'll have a firm grasp of the language very soon.

For my ending note, a person gave a talk this last Sunday and had a thought that I really liked, especially right before Thanksgiving. He said, "Where would you be if you only had tomorrow? What did you thank God for last night?"

Hope everyone has some good prayers =).

Love,

Elder Wood

Nov. 28, 2011, Email from Brownsville, TX

Dear Family,

Well, this week was filled with some experiences, let me tell ya... whew!

Basically what went down is that on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I was super sick! Went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at midnight with some good old diarrhea. Not thinking much, I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. About 1:30, I woke up again, same thing. 2:30 I woke up and it was same thing, but this time vomit came up with it. Basically this continued about every hour until about noon or so, when it finally started to die down. Elder Marble and I drove to a CVS and bought some apple sauce and a couple gatorades to try and get some of what I had lost back into me, but basically it didn't do much.

Unfortunately, on Wednesday we had a couple of key appointments, so despite not having eaten anything and feeling like junk, we went out to a couple of the things that we had arranged. We taught one short lesson with some recent converts, and the other guy wasn't home, so rather than going to our backup plan of knocking doors, we ran back to the apartment cause I was having trouble just standing up for more than 3 minutes. Elder Marble told me I looked paler than ever, which is a pretty impressive thing considering even being in the sun down here I'm still pretty white. My cheeks, which are normally bright red looked super white as well. So, I chose to spend the rest of the day on bedrest to try and get over it.

Elder Marble got some good study time in, which helped him a lot since he has a goal to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish before Christmas, and he was way behind. I basically just tried to rest and sleep it off, but I'm pretty sure I had a fever and too, because even with all my blankets I still kept going from hot to cold. When I went to bed that night, I will say that I probably had one of the most earnest prayers I've had in a long time. After spending a day in bed not working, I basically felt like a super lazy missionary. I missed going out and talking to people. Being away from it, even for that short time, made me realize how much I really do love doing missionary work. So, my sincere prayer was for God to help me get over it that night, so that I could return to service and help some people out on Thanksgiving day. Needless to say, the Lord answers prayers.

Thanksgiving was pretty interesting. The members really wanted to feed us, so we took the opportunity to share some Thanksgiving messages. We had an appointment for 12, 2, and 6 to share a message and eat. Keep in mind, I hadn't eaten anything the day before, and my stomach was just coming back to full activity. I didn't even have that much of an appetite, but Thanksgiving called. Basically,I ate waaay to much for my first day after being super sick, and was pretty much full to bursting with turkey and brisket. (I think it's a Texas thing to cook brisket with the Turkey, just in case the light meat is too wussy for anyone.) But, in the end, everything turned out well and we had a fun time.

The district has been doing really well. We hit our baptismal goal for November, and we've raised our vision for December. All the companionships should be baptizing, and we have the faith that with God's help, we can reach our new, stretching goal. Elder Dewey and Elder Call are our zone leaders here in Brownsville, and I have a lot of respect for them, they're great missionaries.

I don't know how everybody's Thanksgivings were other than Mom's, so I expect reports :P

Oh, also, I've recently been thinking about some people I haven't heard about in a long time. How is James doing? Has he gone back to Utah for studies or is he in VA working or something? I had a dream that I was working with Mark, urr, Elder Johnson, here in Cameron Park. It was a pretty weird dream because his house was in the middle of Cameron Park (our ghetto neighborhood) and we were standing outside of it. Apparently a bunch of cholos (gangsters) didn't like us preaching the gospel so they rolled up to his house and tried to beat us up. We got away and all, but in my mind it started getting me thinking about what it would be like to preach with Elder Johnson in Cameron park. Weird idea, but I think it'd be a pretty fun time. Anyways, don't know why but I've had a lot of weird dreams this week, that was just one to give you an idea.

I hope everyone is having a great week! I'm thankful for you all and the examples you've given me. I don't think there's anything I'm more grateful for in this life than my family.

As far as ideas for Christmas presents.... nothing comes to mind right now, but I'll think about it and let you know next week. Love you!

Elder Wood

November 14, Email letter from Brownsville, TX

Dear Family,

Mom, I got the package you sent from Caldwell, Idaho. Thanks. I will follow the instructions and be sure to mail it later today. I just tried and the library here won't let me send pictures either so it'll be a while before any pictures get sent home. It's a bummer, but as long as I don't lose my SD card or anything it should be fine.

Well, this week was a very sad week. As I saw in the emails from everyone you all have heard about the Elders who passed away in our mission. It really was something very tragic and sad, but at least they were both prepared to go to the other side of the veil. I knew Elder Strong fairly well. My companion and I drove him and Elder Hardman around on P-days for 6 weeks in Edinburg. He was a great missionary, and he will be missed. I didn't know Elder Walker, but we had a conference for all of the Valley that same day that they were killed. Elder Walker got up and did a demonstration with Elder Zivic from the Seventy who was visiting. I saw Elder Strong there, and I was grateful for the chance I had to talk to him at least a little bit before he passed away. It's a sad thing, but I'm grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that we have. It makes things much more understandable and acceptable as we focus on the eternal perspective of things.

I was grateful for the letters I received from everyone. I love you all and I'm grateful for your support. It's always nice to know that there are people outside of South Texas praying for you.

I'm out of time for emails this week, but just know that everything is going well and we're working hard. Talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Wood

November 3, 2011, email from Brownsville, TX

Dear Family,

Before I forget, I'll throw in my new address...

Elder Roland Wood

1253 E. Alton Gloor, Apt #7

Brownsville, TX, 78521

Well my first week in Brownsville has come and gone, and it was a pretty great week. I'm kind of riding on the coat tails of Elder Rumsey (the missionary I replaced), but we saw a good bit of success. We are currently teaching a family of four who came to church yesterday for the first time. Elder Rumsey and Elder Marble (my new companion) first taught the daughter in the family just a bit before I got here. We had the first lesson with all of them on my second day here in Brownsville. They look like they have a lot of potential. I'm sure that if they do their part, they'll soon have a spiritual confirmation that they should be baptized. We are also teaching a brother and sister who are looking to get baptized soon. They were taught twice by the other elders before I got here, and they are doing really well. They missed church this Sunday because the sister was sick, but they should be on track to be baptized towards the end of the month.

Also luckily, I have great missionaries in my district. All of them are hard workers and the sisters that are in my district are great.

Being a district leader is pretty tiring I'm not going to lie. We have really great Zone Leaders in Brownsville which is a big help. The zone set a record for baptisms in Brownsville in October, and things look like they should keep going well into November and December.

My area is pretty poor, filled with lots of unleashed dogs, but we're in a car and they don't do much to pedestrians. So, we're pretty much safe. The only time that's kind of scary is when we go around on bikes on Saturdays. I had a couple dogs chase me as we biked through the neighborhood, but they were all pretty small or medium sized--nothing I couldn't outrun. I'm still dreading the day I run into an unleashed German Shepard, cause I'm pretty sure those can chase me down. I'll probably just slow down and jump off the bike, normally they're just in it for the chase and if you get off and push the bike at them they'll back off. The neighborhood we work in is mostly Spanish, which is nice. Hopefully I get a good bit of practice over these next couple months.

Our apartment is super nice, which is also a bonus. We have a study room separate from the beds, and we each have our own bathroom and walk in closet. Talk about blessings. We've also got a bench and a bunch of weights which should help me get rid of my few extra pounds from Laredo. I had too many carne asadas and tortillas de arina over there. Anyway, my time for emailing is just about up. It seems like the library here lets me do pictures. Unfortunately I left my camera at home, but next week you all should be getting a big picture dump from Laredo and Brownsville. I hope everybody has a good week! I enjoyed the Halloween pics!

Love,

Elder Wood

October, 31, 2011, last email post from Laredo, TX

Dear Family,

Well, the big news for the week is... bum da da dum!..... I'm being transferred! I got a call from President Trayner on Tuesday and I'll be moving down to Cameron Park in Brownsville for at least the next six weeks. I'll be the District Leader in the Brownsville North District. I'm pretty nervous as far as that goes, but I think that it will be a great experience for me. My companion is Elder Wilcox, who has been out of the MTC for just six weeks. I've heard good things about him though, and I'm sure he'll be a great companion. I'm sad to leave Elder Stewart, we had some pretty fun times together. And even worse is the fact that I'm finally leaving Laredo! I spent five transfers in this city, and the only way I can be in a city for longer than that in the rest of my mission is if I never leave Brownsville. I guess time will tell. I'll be leaving to Brownsville tomorrow and should be settled down in the Valley again in the afternoon. It's a sad thing to leave a city after having so much time there, and also having to leave all the people I've gotten to know, but I guess it's just a part of the whole missionary experience. On a random note, I'm also sad we're leaving because we found an amazing taco place on Saturday. It's called Paulita's. It's pretty cheap and they sell these HUGE tacos that are super good. If I ever come back to Laredo I'll have to go there again.

Anyway, the week was pretty slow again, but we did have some cool experiences. Yesterday I tried tacos de lengua (tacos filled with shredded cow tongue) for the first time in my mission. It's actually pretty good. It tastes like roast beef, and it's fine if you can get over what you're eating. I said goodbye to a couple investigators that we had. The missionary that is taking my place sounds like a pretty good Elder, so I have confidence that they'll be well taken care of. Elder Stewart's bike also died this week. The pipe that goes from the handlebars to the front wheel snapped in half and left him with a pretty much unfixable iron horse. Hopefully he can get a replacement bike soon, but until then he'll probably ride on something we can borrow from one of the members here. Luckily all this with his bike happened while he wasn't riding, or that would have been a pretty spectacular crash.

Today we have to be in our apartments by 7, but we're having a barbeque with some of the members until then, so it should be a fun time. About the pants you sent me Mom, the waist was fine, but they were a little long. I went to an old lady in one of the wards here and I asked her if she could take them up an inch or two for me and she was more than happy to do it. So, now they fit fine, no problems.

Congratulations to Christian on getting into the newspaper. That's a pretty sweet costume if you ask me. I haven't seen too many decorations here in Laredo, but there are a couple houses that get pretty into it. They have some giant inflatable pumpkins, witches and ghosts that look pretty cool.

Oh, I forgot to talk about my new area in Cameron Park. I've heard that it's the poorest area in the whole mission, filled to the brim with mean unleashed dogs. So it's a good thing we played soccer today, I got a chance to practice my kicking skills. Needless to say I'll soon start carrying rocks in my pockets again. One of the Elders in my apartment was also in that area and he loved it, so I don't think I have a lot to worry about. Hopefully I'll have some good stories to tell next week about my first few days back in the valley. I'll send you my new address next week after I get there. I've also heard that the apartment I'm going into is really nice, which is a big perk.

We had the ward trunk or treat party, which went over pretty well. We had two less active members come and they seemed to have a great time. Elder Stewart got some of those thick black glasses with the fuzzy eyebrows, nose and moustache attached, so we wore those during most of the party. They also had a chili cook off and had the missionaries be the judges. The best was one that was made with something like barbeque sauce and bacon, it tasted pretty good.

I hope everybody has a great Halloween night. I'll be spending most of it packing for tomorrow, but it should be good either way. Stay safe, eat some candy for me! (But don't worry, I've been eating more than my fair share of candy.)

Love,

Elder Wood

October, 24, 20011, email post from Laredo, TX

Dear Family,

Well, a bit of another rough week here, but all's well that ends well. And in the work of the Lord we all know that everything is going to end well, so who cares about what happens along the way.

So, for this email I'm only going to focus on the good or funny things that happened this week.

To start off, I found out today that a kid that I taught in my other area in Larga Vista is getting baptized this next Sunday! It's a great feeling knowing that he has chosen to take that step. I'm glad that the missionaries kept working with him and helping him through the conversion process. He's the last kid in a family that got baptized while I was there in Larga Vista, so it really is a great thing to see.

As I'm flipping through the pictures on my camera I'm trying to see the other stories that we have from this week.

In the apartment we tricked Elder Hunt into going into the laundry room, and then we pushed the fridge in front so he couldn't get out. That was pretty funny. It's a tiny little room that has just the one door that has to slide out so you can leave, but with the fridge in the way he was pretty stuck.

We were biking down Calle del Norte, one of the major streets in our area, and some big heist must have gone down right before we got there. Or somebody got shot or something. We turned onto the street and there were 4 cop cars all together and the cops were all talking. Further down the street there were two cops talking to a lady at her door. It looked like they were trying to figure out where someone or something went. Then, even further down we saw a big reception hall where people hold parties and there were three concerned people in bride's maid dresses talking to a cop. Who knows what happened, but it must have been intense.

To speed things up a bit...

My companion learned a few jiu jitsu moves from a recent convert.

We found a giant turtle with a red, white and blue painted shell. USA! USA!

We visited another recent convert in the hospital and tied up our bikes to the "Clergy parking only" sign.

We had some great tacos at a member's house.

We said goodbye to Elder and Sister Nelson, the senior missionary couple that has been here in Laredo since I got here. They have been awesome. Elder Nelson had to go home because of health problems. We had a fast for him this weekend. Keep him in your prayers if you can. He's a great man.

One of our investigators told us how she prayed to God to help her quit smoking and she hasn't had a craving for about a month. And when she looks at a box of cigarettes she just feels gross! Amazing how the Lord answers prayers huh?

I think that about sums it up, and I'm just about of email time for this week. I hope that everyone has a great week and gets to have some missionary experiences. I love you all!

Con amor,

Elder Wood