Miracles in Liege

Hola Hola! 

Apart from the occasional trash can fire in the park, the only thing really on fire in Liège is the missionary work! Things are going so so well! I'm SO happy with some of the things that we've got going on in our branch and with the zone and everything, we've just been seeing miracles all over the place. It's probably thanks to Elder L because I think he is the most faithful person I've met before, but, let me tell you about some of this week's funtivities. 

Friday we had our interveiws with President Poznanski! Each time he teaches me something that gives my like 150 extra motivation points and work gets done all over the place! The sincere care and love one man can have for 260 plus missionaries is incredible, I'm not sure how he does it, but I sure did feel it! We talked about the zone and about how our work was going and towards the end he just looked at me and said "Well Elder Wood, this was our last interveiw!" WHAT?!! I was so shocked! It hadn't even crossed my mind that he would be leaving before I got to have another interview with him. It really has been such an honor to serve under him and Sister Poznanski and I love them a ton. You might want to wish them luck because they are moving to Germany so Pres. Poznanski can be the Seminary Coordinater over all of Europe! 

Then later friday night we had some finding time and we felt as if we should go over by the church. We knocked on a few doors and talked to some people but had little success, until the last man we talked to; (strange how it's always the last person) But, we walked passed him because it was time to get home but we felt like we should stop him, so we turned around and ran over to him and started talking. He told us he was in the middle of becoming a Témoigne Jehovah, so we talked to him about his faith in Christ and gave him a Plan of Salvtion brochure, then we asked if we could fix a rendez-vous with him but he said no, so we asked if we could at least close with a prayer and he said we could. Elder L. said a prayer and we asked the man how he felt and he said that he felt like he could feel the prayer, like it was tangible. We explained the Holy Ghost and how we can receive that feeling always if we are baptised and confirmed, we were going hard because we knew we needed to talk to this guy! We could see that he was very touched, but he still declined our invitation to meet another day. So, we headed home, went through our Saturday normally, then decided to go back around the church to do some porting with the extra time we had Saturday evening. We're knocking, knocking, no one would let us in. Then, the last door we knocked on, could you guess who it was? The man we had taught Friday night! He was really happy to see us and wondered how we found his house, but we didn't know how we found it either! Haha, it was just the Spirit who guided us there. But we taught him about the restoration and how it could bless him and his family. It was cool to see how he just listened to us and really took in the information. We again prayed and he was again very touched and recognized the Spirit, and we invited him to pray and ask God if he should listen to more of this message and he said he would, and we're going to pass by and see him this week! How neat is that??!! To be able to see the Spirit really touch the heart of someone and change them is such a cool experience, and every time I see that, I realize how powerful and loving our Heavenly Father really is and how much this message can change people. This really is His work!! Being a missionary RULES!!

That's just one of the petite miracles that happened this week! I will save the rest for Sunday when we get to talk on Skype! Speaking of which: I will be getting on at 3 o'clock, which will be about 7 a.m. chez vous, does that work?? Let me know and maybe we can make some last minute arrangements if you need, but I'm super excited to talk to you guys! 

That's about it for this week! Thank you for all your prayers and support, it really works! I love you and pray for you all the time and I hope you have a ballin' week. Bisous and I'll see you on sunday! :) 

Love,

Elder Wood

April 28, 2014

Whats up everybody! 

How's it going??! Sounds like things are pretty good! This week was out of control in good ol' Liège. My companion is such a champ. To answer some questions, his parents are from Haiti but he's lived in Boston his whole life. He wears a doo-rag in the mornings to keep his hair down and he has been on his mission for about 20 months. I will recount you some of the cool things we've been able to accomplish this week! 

We had 2 exchanges, so we only got about 4 total days of work in together, which is a miralce in itself that we got to teach and find so many people, but it started last Monday after emails. We were praying to have a missionary experience during our pday, and while we were waiting in line to get fries this cool girl named G came up and said hello to us. Her story, en breif, is this: She is from Rwanda and her parents were killed in the genocide, leaving her and her brother orphaned. She travelled around Africa in different foster homes then made her way to Belgium, where her and her brother lived for a while before moving to London. They never got adopted but they grew up together and out grew the adoption age in London, then they came back to Belgium again. She some how became the runner up for Belguims next top model, made lots of money by sharing her story all over the place, did lots of studies and is super smart, then met the sister missionaries in Liège, and accepted to be baptised! She was super busy so she didn't get baptised and lost contact with the church for a minute, then bam, she comes up and says hello to us in the friterie. So we go and sit down with her and talk for a while about her life and coming back into church, and she decided to re-take contact with the sisters this week. She is getting baptised this Sunday! How nuts is that? Talk about an answer to our prayers! Then on Friday, after weekly planning and before our branch council meeting we had about 3 solid hours of work to do but no real plans. We got on a random bus and talked to a really nice lady who said we could teach her son and her another day, and after talking to her, the bus stopped right in front of some apartment buildings where some investigators live. So we passed by their house and talked to them for a while about getting the lessons again and they said yes! Then we went to the building across the street that we had ported earlier, and another young family let us in and we taught then and they accepted to pray and let us come back. Then, Saturday, we had planned on passing by some less active members, and none of them were there! They had all moved away or something, but the cool part was that outside of all their houses we taught different people who became new investigators who we are seeing this week! And Sunday was the same. Church was so good and the branch is so focused on missionary work. After church we and taught several of the people that we met previously this week, and also we had a really cool lesson with and old investigator and he is going to take the lessons again as well. So cool! 

I feel like that was a long string of random miracles, but thats what I feel like this week was! We a lot of cool people and had some really cool teaching experiences and we were guided by the spirit a lot this week. We thanked Heavenly Father after each miracle that we saw and I'm pretty sure that is one of the reasons why we kept seeing so many cool things happen, because we always focused on being thankful for the work and the people. Where else does this kind of cool stuff get to happen?! Only on the mission!! I love being a missionary so so much! It's so obvious that this is Heavenly Father's work and that this really is the Church of Christ. Elder L and I were talking about how  what we were doing was just like the bible and the book of mormon, just going out and teaching the people in the street and proclaiming the gospel, it really is the coolest thing you can do. I'm so excited for this transfer that I'll have with Elder L! 

Also just one thing, on the 11 of May I can skype you guys for Mothers day! (it is American mothers day that day, correct?) Anyways we've got a place to skype and it will probably be early in the morning for you guys on the main land, like towards 6 ish. Let me know if that works or if we should change anything. I love you guys! Have a super good week! A là prochaine! 

Love,

Elder Wood

April 21, 2014 - New Area

What is up Family!

Liège RULES!!! I'ts been a great few days so far! I had like 5 hours of train rides to get here last Wednesday, but when I finally got off the train in Brussels, I met my new baller of a companion, Elder L. He is from Belmont, Boston, he is Haitian, he loves rap music and basketball and is super nice and everyone is his best friend. We are gonna be such good friends. We headed to our luxurious appartment where I met Elder B. and Elder H. If you were wondering what Elder B. looks like, just picture a very young and skinny Mr. Beane with a missionary plaque on. Elder H. is only 18! It sometimes blows my mind to meet such young missionaries, but it's also so cool because they got to come so early and help with the work. What a good thing. Also, to my surprise, upon my arrival I met Sister Ashley Doyle! We serve in the same branch and it's cool but super weird to see a friend from high school here. She said one of the prayers in sacrament meeting and she was speaking French and everything, and it was just strange and cool, but it will be way fun to work here with all of them! There are 2 branches in Liège, and I serve in the Liège 1 branch with a set of sisters, and in the other branch is Elder B, Elder H and the other sisters. The members are so so cool! I've never been in a branch before, so I didn't know what to expect, but everyone is so close and there is a ton of love in the branch, truly like a little family. Easter was a great Sunday to come in because we were given so many waffles and actual hard boiled colored eggs to eat. Also, you know what we did? An Egg War! An old Wood family tradition! I've never met anyone in my life that has done it before until yesterday when our Bulgarian Branch mission leader named Krasimir held his egg out to me, and I knew eggxactly what to go. We also had a pretty cool miracle! We went contacting on Thursday night, and the first person that Elder L. and I contacted together was a super cool guy named Germain, and he ended up coming to church yesterday and he's coming to the single adults fhe tonight! We've really been yolking up all the time we have to find and to talk to everyone and its been going so well. It's gonna be a good few months serving here I think! 

I hope your week is full of after-easter magic and miracles. I love you! Thanks for all that you do! I am going to go eat something that I have missed for too long, a good old Belgian Waffle. à la prochaine! 

Love, 

Elder Wood

p.s. The pictures: 

1. Saying Goodbye at the the train station in Rennes

2. Elder T, Elder E. And I in Rennes

3. Saying Hello to my new comp Elder L.