Middle Aged Single Women

Bonjour everybody! 

So, this week we got transfer news! The big news is that I will be staying in St. Nazaire!! Elder Ericson and I will be doing a 3rd transfer together, which will be the longest i have ever stayed with a companion! I am happy about it though because things have really started to go well in the last few days! 

Our ami Marie is progressing really well and she said something really cool during a lesson this week. We asked her how her testimony of Joseph Smith was coming along and she said it was coming slowly. But she tole us that she is really excited to get baptised because after she is baptised she will have the Holy Ghost and things will make more sense to her spiritually. Cool, right? To hear that from someone who has been to church less than 10 times was really cool for me, and i really think it shows a lot of faith on her part. She is progressing well and our other amis are doing well too! There is this interesting thing happening recently though, which is that we've only been finding middle aged single women to teach. Elder Ericson and I have nothing against middle aged single women, but they make things complicated when you have so many of them to teach but so few preisthood holders to come and teach them with you! But its alright, its a really good problem to have haha, because all the middle aged single women in the world need the gospel too. And they are really nice. 

All joking aside though, it really is a life changing experience to be a missionary. No matter how old or young or what height or race or age, every person needs this Gospel, and I feel incredibly blessed to be able to share that every day. Tough times have come in St. Nazaire but no matter how hard, the demand for the Gospel in peoples lives never diminishes, and the Lord needs worthy and willing messengers to get it to them.  I just know that the Lord loves us all equally, and that we all are important to Him, and that all our efforts count in His eyes. 

Our week was good and we're looking forward to a great week #1 in this new transfer! Give Jordan Higgins a big bisou for me! i love you guys, have a great week! 

Elder Wood 

Miracles people!

Hello everyone! 

FUN FACT: 

This is P-day lunch every week. Baguet, appel and cheese. We usually pick a different cheese to try every week, but i took a picture this week because this is my favorite cheese! Ive been trying to figure out how i can bring it home in mass quantities, so we'll see how much I end up stuffing in my suit cases. Its crazy good stuff. 

​

This week went really well! We had a couple miracles that really helped us out, the Lords hand was definately present in the work this week! First off we had an exchange with our district leader in Nantes. During the exchange we were able to talk to a bunch of people and teach some really cool lessons on the street! One of my favorite things to do if we dont have an appointment is to prepare a lesson and then go out finding with the intention of teaching it. It really ups our chances of teaching people on the road and it just gives a lot of motivation and direction for what to say to people. So that helped us out a lot and we had a killer exchange. Then, back in good old St. Nazaire, we were able to fix a baptismal date with one of our amis named Marie! It was really cool because she had a date 2ish years ago, but she dropped the missionaries because she didnt like the idea of tithing. We refound her and started teaching again and she said that the first time she walked back into the church she knew she was going to get baptised! I'm so grateful for all that the Lord does for us and these little miracles that happen! We just have to remember that its on the Lords time table always. Things havent gotten any easier, but just like He did for the people of Alma, Heavenly Father sure did make Elder Ericson and I a little stronger this week by helping us fix a date! 

Also, another small miracle, the old Book of Mormon DVD presentations. Have you seen those things? Pure genius. My favorite one is the first one when Susan invites Linda to the laurel activity. Man, you gotta watch them. I wish everyone still dressed like they did back in the day. 

The Lords work is hastening! Transfers are in two weeks and its 50-50 if i stay or go, but a hunch and some common sense leads me to think that it will be me leaving. But luckily we've got at least a solid 17 days left of St. Nazaire lovin! Wish us luck and pray that we will find new amis. I love you guys and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Wood 

Suns Out Guns Out

Salutaions! 

We had a few spiritual funtivities this week, allow me explain them! 

Zone conference! Always a blast. It was cool to see some of the younger missionaries I knew who are now leaders in the mission! We got some really great trainings from our leaders and our Mission President. One of the main things I learned from this conference is just that it's super important to stick to the basics, always! It's easy to think that we have got the gospel basics down, or the missionary work basics down, but there will always be areas that we can improve in! 

Right after the conference we had an exchange in a city called Nantes (said like nahnt) and I was with Elder Cutshall. We had great time and were able to teach some really cool lessons on the street. We met a woman sitting on some steps by herself and when we asked her her name she said "it's like I don't have a name" because she was just feeling so unimportant, but we were able to testify to her that God loved her and that she was important to him. It was cool to see the change in her eyes as we talked and she said she would try and come to church! Then the next day we prepared a lesson during studies about finding out if God is there with the plan of finding someone to teach it to, and after a bit of contacting we were able to teach an English guy  the lesson we had prepared! It was cool just to see that God really blesses us as we are prepared to do His will. 

We also got some strange news this week in our branch. Our branch mission leader told us on Thursday that he was moving to a city called Lille, and on sunday, poof! He was gone! so nuts! So we were left with no branch mission leader. Then, a family gets up on Sunday to bear their testimony, and they told everyone they found work and were starting monday, but it was in Paris! So poof, they up and left today! So in total, 7 people left from our branch in one weekend. 7 is not a huge number, but when you only have 35 to 40 people every sunday, 7 missing is a lot! We are expecting some very interesting developments in our branch in the next few weeks, and hoping to find 7 people to get our attendance back up!! 

Have you ever thought about what is means to say "I know the church is true"? Joseph Smith said that the truth in things are they are, were and always will be. Saying that the church is true is actually a really deep statement! For me that phrase resumes a lot of history and sacrifice, when we think of all the saints that have come before us and have worked and in many cases died in order to progress the work of the Lord, and to bring the Truth forth. Im just proud to be able to say every day that I Know that the church is True. 

Nevertheless, things in St. Nazaire are going well. We're seeing some little miracles and the Lord really is helping us. Its getting pretty hot down here! I, being the 20 year old boy that i am, found myself one short sleeve shirt short the other day, and had to ask my companion if i could borrow one of his. Little did i know that his sleeves were super short, and so i just had my little white arms blazing in the sun all day! Thus the title, suns out guns out. And voila, le week! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! Until next time!

Elder Wood