Hi Guys - 

Transfer 5 was great, we taught more than ever, found some really cool people, and now its transfer 6! Just like that! I will be staying in Brussels for another one, so that means I will definitely be leaving next transfer. But, I'm going out with a bang!! #Brussels4lyf

We had a pretty good week! We're still working on finding people, but the struggle this week has been the weather. Belgium has taken a turn for the worse everyone. Most of our contacts came from people we found while street contacting, and fewer come from knocking doors, but this week the wrath of the Belgian rain has been unleashed so we've been forced to do nothing but port. Tuesday night we were talking to a muslim teen on the road when it started to drizzle. It was pretty normal, so we just huddled onto someone's tiny front porch and kept talking. Like 9 seconds later it started raining probably harder that I've ever seen it rain before, and it didn't ever stop! It was like a 2 hour crazy rain storm! By the time we finished talking to the muslim boy, we were a 30 minute walk away from home and the trams had stopped. So we took it like men and ran home. My clothes were drenched and my shoes didn't dry for like 5 days! It was nuts. The weather has continued like this all weekend, so there is nobody on the streets. I prefer porting, but it's just slightly more difficult to find people that way. But, we've found nonetheless! Thursday we knocked into a man named A and his family and fixed rendez-vous for sunday.  Yesterday we went over to teach him and when we asked what the importance of religion was for him he said he was Athiest, and he had invited us in so we could prove to him that God existed. We stayed calm while he tried to tell us that God didn't exist, and when it was our turn, we just told him that we knew God existed because of prayer, and invited him to pray right then and ask God if he was there. We all knelt and he gave a decent prayer, but afterwords he just laughed and said he didn't feel anything. Then we taught him how to pray correctly and told him that it had to be sincere with real faith. We knelt to pray again and he gave a very powerful and sincere prayer. It was silent for a couple minutes after and eventually he said he couldn't stand up because of the strong feelings he had on him. He asked us if we were magicians, but we explained that it was the power of God telling him that He is there. We had to leave, but during the closing prayer he started to cry and asked what we had done to him to make him feel this way, and why the other people from other churches hadn't been able to make him feel anything. We just explained that it was God, and that this is His church, and he told us he had to understand more, and we're going back tonight. Prayer works!! Rain or shine, the Lord is always there and wants his children to come to Him! 

I love you guys! I'm really glad to hear that all is going well! Keep up the good work, tell everyone I say hello and I love them. Pray that things will keep going up hill, even if the weather isn't! Pray that we'll be able to find a family. That's about it for this week, I'll talk to you soon! 

Elder Wood

Please Pray for a family for Elder Wood to teach!

Hey yo everyone! 

I love Scone Sundays. That's so fun! We tried to make scones once and I almost burned the kitchen down. I'll save that story for after the mission. 

It's weird how I think of things I need to write in my emails all week, then I sit down in front of the computer and it just all disapears. So, prepare yourself for another ramble fest and we'll try to make it spiritual and uplifting. 

We had some miracles this week, but.. I don't even know how to explain. I'll just tell you and you'll see what I mean. So our goal is to find a family, and we've been trying so hard. We knock doors as much as possible and I haven't passed someone pushing a stroller, no matter how weird the situation, for like a month. So we're knocking doors in this really nice neighborhood, and we came to the last door on the street. They came out and met us and we explained, they asked of we were Christian, we said yes, then they said "Do you want to come in and eat with us?".... I had no words. Eventually I think I said yes and we followed them inside. They had 3 boys all above 16 and 2 older children who weren't there. Their house was so fancy, with music playing and they fed us deer! We sat around the table and they just started asking so many questions. Everyone participated, we taught all about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, and the spirit was thick in the room, like I could have touched it. We laughed and it was such a good time! They even offered to drive us home because it was late. We got back to our house and got out planners and things to exchange information, and when we told them we'd like to see them again and continue, they said no. It just killed me, we've been searching and praying and working, and there they were! They were right there! They felt the spirit! But they still said no. We've had several other experiences like this this week. We were walking to the train station to meet a member and a beautiful young family walked out in front of us. I stopped them and we talked, and we were able to testify of the plan of salvation, and again the sprit was so strong, and we asked of we could see them again and they don't live in Brussels, and we left without getting their number for the elders in their city. Man, the Lord works in mysterious ways. And it's strange how you can feel so much love for someone who you met on the road and talked to for 3 minutes, but you do. But, even though it may not be me teaching them, I am confident that those two families will have the fullness of the gospel in their lives one day. 

After we met that second family on the road, we ate with the Hatch family. They made us some really American food and it was really fun. But the best part was the closing prayer Sister hatch gave. I think I've only ever heard a couple prayers that were so full of faith and love. She just prayed that we would be able to find a family and accomplish our goal, and that the ward would be able to help us. She brought a tear to my eye and helped us grow in our desire to find this family. 

Also thanks for updating me on all my homies. Tell Jackson that I said Happy Birthday and that I love him a lot. Also tell Anna hi too! And thanks for the letters! I'll try and write you all back today. 

Those were events that happened on Saturday and Sunday, but the rest of the week was good too. I went to Paris on Tuesday for Elder G's legality. He's doing super good by the way. His French has gotten a ton better 
and he is always ready to work and helps me work hard too. I spent a night in Nivelles, a tiny ville outside of Brussels on an exchange and knocked doors in the rain for like 3 hours #soaked but for some reason, I had lots of fun. It's weird how that happens too, situations that seem kind of terrible, like getting rejected 24/7, and being soaked in freezing rain for hours at a time, turn out to be the things I love to do, because when you find that person that needs the gospel, it's worth it. 

And this week we're gonna keep going!! Everything rocks! I love being a missionary!! Have a super good week, work hard, help out the missionaries a little, and I'll talk to you next week! 

Elder Wood 

 Elder Wood and Elder G. (his baby)

 Elder Wood in front of the Basilica in his town

 Sunrise in Brussels from the balcony

 #cardipardi

 In Paris again for legality

Personal Revelation

Hey Everyone! 

I'll start with the cool story of our new Italian friend Nico. He totally came to church yesterday! Without being asked, because it is very difficult to communicate to him the message that we want him to keep coming, but he came on his own! And this time it was actually church, and we were able to introduce him to the Di Lillo family in our ward who are from Italy. They just roped him in and became best friends, and we found out that Nico has a family too! They will be moving here as soon as Nico finds a job. He has a wife, a 12 year old boy and a 19 year old boy. I really hope I get to stay here and meet them! But it was really cool and a huge miracle. I'm buying an Italian dictionary today. 

This week basically nothing that we planned happened, but a lot of really cool unexpected miracles happened! President Poznanski told us to start leaving the appartment at 10:30 every morning instead of 11, and to pray for guidance from the spirit so we can start teaching more. So, on wednesday on my exchange with Elder E, we did that! This is usually our least productive time of day, and our only plan was to follow the spirit and contact around our house. But we went out, and ended up teaching two lessons on the road! One to a guy who had been to our church many years ago and another to an investigator who we has lost contact with. It was a huge miracle and testimony builder. Personal revelation, am I right? 

Also my little bleu cut his head open yesterday. We stayed after church because we were going to give an investigator a church tour, and while we were waiting we decided to clean up all the leaves that got tracked inside. While Elder G was sweeping, he somehow hit his head on the massive firehose holder contraption and started bleeding. He was bleeding a lot. So much blood. But turns out, he just had little cut on his head. Where did all the blood come from? I don't know. He's okay now though!

Also, the weather is getting pretty crazy up here! Yesterday it was 10° C, and then it dropped to 6° C with wind chill and some really cold rain. I'm not sure what that is in farenheit, but it was cold. and wet. But also it was cool. 

Keep praying for us that we can find a family who will accept the gospel. Also pray that our investigators will progress towards baptism. We've set some pretty big goals, and we've gotta accomplish them! 

I love you guys! Keep working hard, having fun, and so on and so forth. And thus was the letter from Elder Wood, on the fourteenth day of October, in the two thousand and thirteenth year of our Lord. Talk to you soon! 

Elder Wood

A little Italian for ya

Bonjourno! Itsa mia, Elder Wooda! 

I'm going to learn Italian this week. How does it sound? I really want to learn Italian because of an awesome guy we met this week, and right now I will tell you what happened:

Saturday, all of our plans fell through. We had this cool idea to do Service Finding! So we got in our service clothes and were planning on knocking doors and asking people if they had any service we could do for them, just as a new way of finding people. We walked to the metro station and both looked at eachother and said "This is a bad idea, we should not do this." So, with that powerful warning from the Spirit we went home and changed back into normal missionary clothes. At this point we had no plan, because the man we were supposed to meet with cancelled, so we decided to get out and follow the Spirit. Maybe this wasn't the smartest idea ever, because I think the Lord expects us to be a little more prepared that we were, but things worked out okay. We followed the Spirit as much as we could and acted on every thought, and eventually found ourselves in the middle of the Muslim Commune. The muslin people are really kind, the actual practicing ones, but it's bad for finding because we are not allowed to teach or contact them because if they convert, they run a very high risk of getting killed if they ever return to a muslim country. So, we were very lost. We sat down, said a prayer, and decided to walk home because it was almost dinner time. We walked passed a bar and a little Italian guy popped out and stopped us to talk. The conversation went like this:

Nico: "Bonjourno! (itallian chichiblachliblah) Mormoni?"

Us: "Oui! Do you speak French or English?"

Nico: "No. (lots of itallian) Address? Missionarios?"

Us: "Oui! Heres the address!"

In reality this lasted about 15 minutes and there was lots more pointing and Italian involved, but what we understood was that his name was Nico, he is form the south of Italy and is here working, but had been meeting with the missionaries in Italy, and he's read the Book of Mormon all completely. He even called the missionaries in Italy so I could talk to them! But we just got his number and gave him the address to the church and then went home. The next day though, on our way over to the church for Preisthood session, there was Nico at the tram stop with his friend! They came to Preisthood with us and an Italian member of our ward very kindly translated for them, and we're going to start teaching him! What a miracle, eh? 

Then this week we also had Zone Conference with President and Sister Poznanski. I dont know if I've told you, but starting in July the mission's goal was to have 100 baptisms in 2 transfers, or 12 weeks. We reached 100 by week 10, and reached 115 by week 12! It was a huge accomplishment for the mission, especially because in the past, the months of July and August have been the lowest baptising months, because literally everyone leaves on vacation for weeks on end. But in this zone conference, we fixed a new mission goal. Every companionship to baptise one family before Christmas as a gift for the Savior. Wow! We are all really stoked about this new goal, and I really believe we can accomplish it. But, what was even cooler was in General Conference when Elder Ballard said: "If every member young and old would reach out to just one, millions would feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ before Christmas. What a wonderful gift for the Savior" or something very similar to that. What a confirmation of my mission's goal and the inspration of our President! I thought that was so cool and am really excited to find this family! Pray for us! 

Seriously tons of other things happened this week, but this email would be way too long if I put them all. It's hard to chose just one or two miracles every week to share! My comp is doing so good, he's just a little boss. I really like him a lot and he's a great missionary. And he doesn't even do any weird stuff, that's me. Also, do you guys realize we were watching Conference at the same time?! And that's so cool that you were there! I actually tried to scan the crowd a little bit because I was thinking it was possible that you were there, so voila. I'm so grateful for the Prophet and apostles and for the spiritual boost they give us during each session. We got to go to our chapel and watch in English which was really nice, and members even came and watched and we all had lunch together. So fun. 

That's about it for this week! I love you guys, I'm proud of ya. The speakers talked a lot about families this weekend, and it made me very graetful to be a member of such a great one. Keep up the good work, champs. I'll talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Wood

"My Eggo is preggo"

To see a video of Elder Wood meeting his "baby bleu", log on to Facebook and search for the France Paris Mission Poznanski.  There are also lots of pictures of him!

Salut! 

How is everybody? That picture of the flood looked nuts! I'm never there when that happens. But I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing good! 

My week was really good! The transfer is over and I'm now in my 5th which is pretty cool. My thoughts are really scattered today and I cannot seem to remember very many specifics from the past week except that it rained basically the whole week. So I guess weather wise, it wasn't that good, but missionary work wise it was great! For some reason we always end up talking to the thugs that live near us. TOTO, the leader of the gang, doesn't like me that much because I wouldn't give him money, but his cronies like us because we're American. So, ya, I'm really thug. Then last night we got to go teach a family we haven't seen for quite a while, and the dad named A explained to us how he was angry with God for all the things that are happening with his family in Africa. I explained to him how we don't always have a reason why things happen to good people in life, but all we can do is continue on the path and God will strengthen us. Then Elder W used the story of Alma and Amulek when they had to watch all the people be burned and the Lord told them not to do anything. It was super cool to see A change in a matter of minutes from very angry with God, to very humbled. We asked him to pray and he gave a really good prayer asking for strength and help for his family. It was just cool to see how we could so immediately help someone. We help people with every lesson, but we don't always get to see the results so directly and plainly. It sure was a big blessing to be able to teach that lesson. 

Yesterday we had Stake Conference and Bishop Davies spoke to us which was really cool! He's the 2nd councilor in the presiding Bishopric. It was funny because all the people before him gave really well planned out and serious talks. They were very spiritual and good, but as soon as Bishop Davies got up, he just cracked jokes the whole time. The Lord must have a good sense of humor, because all his general authorities sure do. He didn't plan anything either, he just got up and started talking about his family and the joys the gospel has brought them. Every time I see a general authority, I feel like I'm the investigator and they are the missionary teaching me! It's incredible to hear their stories and knowledge and testimony and I want to know how I can have it! But how we get all that is really simple, a heart completely turned to the Savior and doing His work. No matter  our position in society or church or whatever, God promises all, if we will just give our hearts to Him and keep the commandments. Bishop Davies said something that was really interesting, he said that God has given us everything, so we should't feel like we're paying him back with like tithing or money or whatever, because he already has all that. The one thing he doesnt have that we can give him is our will. That really pushed me to always be better and continue to turn my heart completely over to the Lord. 

Also last night I got a call from the Assistants, and they told me I'm gonna be District Leader/Trainer this transfer!! Woo hoo! I'm getting my own little baby bleu!! I couldn't be more excited and I love him already!! And being District Leader, I feel, is going to be super fun and I'm gonna learn so much! I've just been thinking about my bleu all day, he's probably sleeping in the MTC right now dreaming about the field, then tomorrow he'll leave and come here and I'll meet him on Wednesday!! So excited!! 

And also at the same time, I am a bit meloncholy to be leaving my pals I made here in Strombeek. Well, I'm not leaving, but Elder W and Elder D are, and me and Elder P are gonna stay with our new comps. It's been super fun living with them for the last 12 weeks and we're super tight, but they are going off to bigger and better things now! Reminds me of the gang. Just gotta keep up the good work!! 

I suppose that's it for this week! I'm super happy to get to stay here with my amis and meet my new bleu, stoked to have some good sucess this transfer! I can't wait to get all your letters and see how you are doing. Share the gospel with somebody! I love you! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Wood 

Come back when I am alone

Hello Family! 

How's it going?! My week was good! Brussels is still just awesome. Transfers are next week but I think I'll stay here for another. The weather was nice. All summer, only above 80 degrees a handful of times, but as soon as September hit, it got cold! Its good though, I like it. We look super classy with sweaters on all the time. And surprisingly enough if you look classy it makes a difference in whether or not people talk to you sometimes. 

But anyway, this week was good! Kind of a dry week, in the sense that not a ton happened. I went on 2 exchanges which went well, and knocked a lot of doors! People are all coming home from vacation, so they are more often home, but this is kind of how the conversation generally goes: 

Us: "Bonjour! My name is Elder Wood, I'm from the US, here for 2 years to help families be strengthened through the gospel of Christ. Are you a believing person?"

Them: "No not at all"

Us: "That's okay! That's why we're here! Would you and your family have 5 minutes to talk to us tonight?"

Them: "No my whole family is home and I have lots of children and a wife"

Us: "Oh wow that's perfect. Can we talk to you all about Christ tonight?"

Them:"No, I told you, my whole family is here and we are busy doing family things"

Us: "Yes, that's why we're here too! To pray with your family all together tonight!" 

Them: "No. Come back when I'm alone"

Then it continues like that until they close the door haha. I've had that conversation like 150 times this week. But then sometimes we get let in and it's like winning the spiritual lottery. 

I've never been stuck on what to say! So instead, I'll just type and whatever comes out,, comes out. 

So we met this girl named Antoinette who is a member from Ghana. We invited her to church this last week and she was really excited. When we called her to see if she could still come, she said her mom wouldn't let her and she was really sad. Later on Sunday night, we ran into her on the road and talked for a minute and she just cried because she wanted to come to church so bad but she couldn't, and how her mom made her go to a different church that she knows is not true. It made my really sad and we want to help her but aren't sure how! But we've recruited the help of the sisters, so we'll see if they can help with her mom. 

Last p day we wandered around looking for a journal because mine is almost finished. During our stroll around downtown Brussels we found the 3 most hipster places in the country probably. #underground

Mom asked what I study everyday, great question! It's most important to study the missionary lessons in PMG, and the standard works. So usually I go through the day and figure out what we are teaching people then study out the lessons. Sometimes we all get a little sucked into deep doctrines, and it's really fun, but mostly I just dive into the scriptures and use PMG for all my studies. 

I guess thats all for this week! I love you guys, and I loved the pictures too! Tell everyone I said hello and I love them and stuff. Talk to you soon! 

Gros mille bisous <3

Elder Wood 

A Taste of the Glory

Howdy! 

This week was a busy one! Which is always good. I suppose I'll just start with Monday! It was P day so we didnt do a ton, but that night we had interveiws with President and Sister Poznanski and let me tell ya, they are some inspired people. Seriously though, I feel like they are my temporary parents. It's so fun to be able to talk to them. 

Tuesday was Zone conference! WOO!! I love zone conference so much. It's a 4ish hour long meeting where President and Sister Poznanski give a little formation, then the Zone leaders teach, then we have district meeting, then lunch. I guess it doesn't really sound that fun typed in an email.. but it rocked. Then I started my 48 hour exchange with Elder Adams! He goes home in 3 weeks, so I just decided I was going to profit and gain as much dino-missionary knowledge as possible. Tuesday night and Wednesday we spent in his area and Thursday we came back to mine and things really went super well. I think I can safely say that those 2 1/2 days changed my mission! It would take super long to explain the whole thing, but for real, it was awesome. We did so much work. 

Thursday night I was reunited with my good old comp Elder Wilson, who is so fly by the way. He just hit his year mark like last week and we've become great friends. Such good friends in fact that we've set a date for the ultimate Guitar Hero battle after our missions. The fruits thereof will be great, meaning that I will win, but he's still really cool. We sat down Friday and just decided what we needed to do to really get the work progressing, and we're already seeing so many of the blessings from our new plans! Things are just lookin up! Not that they were down before, but there is always room for improvement, right? 

Saurday was good, and Sunday was nuts. We went to church which was really great as usual, then ate with 2 member families! That's right folks, 2 families in one day! It was a miracle, and even squeezed in a lesson between. They were both American families, yes, but still, it rocked. The families here are such good examples of what I want to be doing in the next 10 years or so. #familylyf

Oh and on Sunday! This was cool. We were walking to the metro station with Eric, one of our amis, and this young girl ran up and stopped us. She said her name was Antoinnette and she was a member from Ghana, that she had lived in Belgium for a year but had not been able to find any missionaries or the church. She almost started to cry and just said how grateful she was to see us and that she couldnt live without the church. It was so cool because we got to help her but also because our ami got to hear a little of her testimony and meet another normal member of the church. #miralces! 

Then here we are! I feel like just going through my weeks is not the most productive type of email, but Mom really seems to want "a little taste of the glory, see what it tastes like." So, know that things are good and that I am safe and I love you and so does Heavenly Father. Miracles are happening over here! There are about 2 weeks of the transfer left and I feel as if I will stay for another here, but nobody knows. I'm off to buy myself a Bou bou today I think, and if I do end up getting one, you'll see what I mean next week. I love you!! Have a good week! 

Elder Wood