The one with the battle...

Hey Family!!

Haha, those pictures of us eating.. that's really funny. I love me a good eating picture montage.

Things here are going well!! But, I will tell you something. Mom, it's interesting that you said you missed me extra this week, because this week I probably had the hardest day that I've had on my mission thus far. #mommysenses. I feel like I should not really say many details, but I'll just say that me and my comp sat down for about 4 hours and just battled. I literally have never felt so lost.. I had absolutely no idea what to do, so I just cried for a sec, and prayed that the Lord would soften our hearts, and He did. It took a chunk our of our day, but after the battle, we ended up working things out, and ended up getting some work done. I'm really grateful for these difficulties that we are given, for trials of our faith. This was perhaps the largest trial of faith I've ever had in my life! But because of that day, and the rest of this transfer, I have no fear or doubt that with the Lord, I can do anything. But, even though I had maybe the hardest day, I also had one of the best days! I met M. Russell Ballard! Haha, it seriously was so cool. I just laugh when I think about it. I shook hands with an apostle of the Lord, and he taught me. SO COOL!!!! He talked about being a "Preach my Gospel" missionary, and the power of that book and how it has all the answers. He read out of John 14 and just analyzed it for us, it was so cool. It was like, how is he pulling all this info out of the scriptures? But then it.. it's all just right there! We just have to read them! It was such a huge blessing and a cool experience. And that picture of us and him is like.. 7 zones. Our zones have like 10 people a piece. so ya.

Other than that, our work is going really well! We teach more and more every week, and A is still getting baptised on the 30th. She came to church and the ward just absorbed her, we didn't have to do anything! It was super cool to see, the members here are SO focused on missionary work. Not only does it make things easier for the missionaries, but it makes work more successful also! You asked how we do a lot of our finding, and it's mostly talking to people on the street and knocking doors in apartment buildings. But, strangely enough, the two people that have been/will be baptised were referals from members. Members really are the way so be successful! We just try to work with them a ton, whenever we meet with someone we try to always have a member. So, find someone that the missionaries can teach! Invite them over to eat with an investigator! The French is coming along pretty well too. It's not like super good, sometimes the meaner french people say rude things because my accent (which is mostly just funny rather that offensive) but I can understand basically everything, make phonecalls and fix rdv's, and also I do a lot of the talking during lessons. It's really fun actually.. I really love speaking French, so that makes it a lot easier to just want to talk and learn more and more!

This week I also got to put my soccer skills to the test against some French street youths at an Elders quorum activity. I definitely made a fool of myself, but I got a couple compliments, "bien joué" or well played, you know, the uszh (usual). I think I earned a couple of respect points. #sports #america

This coming week is gonna be pretty fun. I'm going on an exchange with an actual Frenchman, then on Thursday I'm going to Belgium to get my legality, then Sunday is the end of the transfer and I'll know if I'm leaving or staying! I had a dream that I was going to Versailles, so that would be really cool if I went there. But also in the dream, I had 12 companions and Gandolf was there.. so I don't know. Also tell Ernie congratulations and I'll see him in a few months!! That's super cool! Maybe I'll even train him. Whoa! 

Fun fact; my hair goes the opposite way now. I dont know why, it just changed it's mind and went the other way, now the cowlick battle is just out of control so that's pretty neat. Also, I sent my ipod home a couple weeks ago so you guys could put some new music on it! Did that happen? Also if you want to send some Lucky Charms, that would be fun.

Alright, that's about it for this week.  I love you guys! I'm writing you all letters back today, so be prepared for some awesome words of wisdom and French slang. I love you!

Elder Wood

*These are some of the pictures Josh was referring to in the beginning of the letter.  His mission President's wife, Sister Poznanski, for some reason, always takes a picture of Josh when he is eating something!  They are always eating, it seems.  Pretty funny!

Hello all!

Family!!

Hello all! Haha, I can't believe you got Carley a car. Sososo cool. haha it looks sweet! And the house is St. George, holy cow!!! That's so nuts. Tell them I will be very upset if they sell the cabin though, but good choice with the house boat.  But thank you for keeping me updated always!

Mom: The package just arrived in the Visitors center last week, so I'm gonna pick it up today. No worries. Sorry I never responded to that question, haha.

Also to answer some other questions! Things with Elder A are going well. We may have been in several heated arguments, but all is well now. Most of the time he just recited some sort of Shakespeare-or-something play to me while I try to speak French to him, but he refuses to speak French with me so I honestly have no idea if my French is good or not! But oh well, he is a nice person and really just want to do good. Which kind of tells you how my French is going; I really don't know. I think it's getting better, and also I can understand it more! Which is really good, I can only get better from here! I study really hard though and just speak as much as I can. My knees are doing well, now it's my back! I'm getting a little out of shape honestly. I use my workout time in the morning to the best of my ability, but I don't have anyone to run with so I can't work off all the food I eat! Which is another thing; I have gained this ability to just eat gigantic amounts of food. More than I ever have before. I am always hungry. I don't know if this means I'm growing up or just out, but still, I'm growing. And also I just heard from Sister Gledhill today!! Her email is waiting to be opened, but I assume she is doing really so great. Actually I'm pretty positive of it.

What is ratchet?

Carley and Erin and Lizzy, I heard of this French girl that I think you might like to listen to, even though it's in French. Coeur de Pirate (heart of a pirate) look her up!

Oh and I thought of some things you could send! 

-american floss

-cholula

-pictures

-a new smallish french dictionary

-ties

-music! such as: Alex Boye, Mindy Gledhill, EFY cd's, Lower Lights and Nearer albums, other church songs.

-peanut butter

-other candies but not too much cause I don't want to continue gaining weight

Work is going well. We are teaching more and more, and we set a baptismal date with this lady named A! She is African, and Africans love Jesus so much. She is really cool and I really think she is going to go through with everything! Also we've been inviting Chris to come teach with us lately which has been super, super cool. He has so much knowledge of the church already and is very eager to share and testify! Despite the language barrier, he really has become a very good friend of mine and I'll miss him a lot when I have to leave Antony. We do a lot of finding, and I'm getting better at it, I think. I've started putting into practice the "Teach when you find, find when you teach" idea, where as soon as I meet someone, I just testify and try to teach kind of a mini- lesson so they can have a chance to feel the spirit, and always, always asking for a referral. It really has made a difference in our work! Also guess what? on the 11th we're going to have a conference with Elder M. Russell Ballard! So cool huh? I'm super excited to get to meet him and hear all his advice! Also I've just started reading my old replica Book of Mormon and it's been really cool. It really is just like reading a story book. 1 Nephi 13 is a super cool chapter, it talks about the pilgrims coming to America and the Revolutionary war, and all this cool stuff about American History! It is really cool to see how much the Lord really is involved in our lives and how he has given us so many blessing in the Promised Land. Also, in the next few chapters afterwards, Nephi has some trouble with his bow and his brothers trying to kill him and he gets asked to build a ship, pretty huge things, but you know where he always goes to find answers and help? The Mountain, or the Temple. Unlike the members in France who have a good 3 hours to the nearest temple, you are like 15 minutes away from 3 different ones!! Thats such a blessing! Go to the temple together.

Autumn: Thank you so much for your messages! I wish I could go to your dance recital, I miss you and love you very much. I'll write you a letter back today and guess who the painter was that you were talking about! Also if you have any math questions, you can write me a letter and I'll try to answer them.  Good luck with school and I love you!

I miss you all and love you very much! Thank you for all the things youve done for me! Have a really good week, Carley, have fun partying for the next 3 days, cause seriously, it's gonna be awesome, you all rock so much. Write me letters, and I'll talk to you next week!!

Love Elder Wood

short but sweet

Dear Family,

I just wrote you a big fat nice email, and the whole thing got deleted. This is the worst! So, I am just going to sum everything up, and I will write you a better email next week.

Work is going really good! We have been just finding like crazy lately, and this week our finding efforts are going to pay off. We met a couple people who I really think will be baptised. Including this one lady named A. We got her phone number from a member named Ya Gaston (awesome name) and he told us she wants to be baptised. When I called her and told her it was the missionaries, she just started laughing and yelling because she was so excited and she set the quickest rendez-vous possible. Also remember the investigator that got baptised, C? I gave him the preisthood yesterday! It was really cool and spiritual, and he later told me that I was really important to him and that he had wanted me to give him the preisthood for a long time. Also he is planning and preparing to serve a mission! He's so cool and he is a huge testimony builder to me of the Lords love for us. Alme 29: 9-10 explains perfectly how I feel.

Elder A is boss. We are co comps, which means he is not my trainer. We got in a few arguments this week, but its cool now. It's cool to see that even though we are very different, the Lord had given us both strength to keep working hard and overcome our differences to accomplish our goals. He is a really good guy and I like him a lot.

Autumn, hello :) I love you too. I guess its a slippin' slide! Am I right? Tell grandma and grandpa not to sell the cabin, there are too many family memories up there. Write me a letter!

To see grandma and grandpa on the 23rd would be great, but super super difficult. It's Stake Conference that day in Versailles, so I'll be about an hour outside of Paris, and it's also the last day of the transfer, which would mean that if I have to go somewhere I'll have to pack, which is super possible. Tell them they can still call President Poznanski if they want, but lunch would be very difficult.

I'm really sorry this letter is short and has little info, the other one was super good, but alas, it is gone. I love you all so much and I will write you again next week! Thank you for raising me in the Gospel. I love you guys.

Elder Wood

2nd Transfer homie!

Hello Family!!

Mom, Thank you so much for your email and update on Brooke's farwell and everything you shared about the scriptures! I love those chapters. And the Alma 31 verse 5 scripture is so good! That's one we share with less active members to get them to come to church. So good job!

So, as you know, some crazy stuff has been going down in the mission with all the new missionaries and what not. So after 6 weeks of training, I am now co comping it up with Elder A! He loves the Matrix, which he regularly quotes to me, he actually does speak fluent Latin, and he wants to be a lawyer. He is very serious and just ready to get to work. Which is really cool. We are gonna do some work this transfer!

Me being a total noob still, and him not knowing the area at all, we've had some interesting times trying to find our way around. One night, we only had about 30 more minutes of work, so I thought we'd just take a short walk around town and try and find someone to teach. I turned left at the little town hall place, thinking we were still headed in the right direction. After walking for a while things started looking unfamiliar, until we found ourselves in a small town called Cachan, which is just really, really far away from our apartment. I laughed and just decided, what can we do but try to find our way back?! But, unfortunately, Elder A was not too pleased. We had had a bit of an argument earlier that day, so emotions were running high, and he just became very angry. Not at me though, just at himself for not saying anything. We started making our way home in an awkward, happy/angry way, and I just didnt know what to do. He was just super ticked. So, after looking over my "how to cheer people up knowledge", I did what any Jim Halpert fan would do. Without looking up or at him, I just started singing. "Awimba-way, awimba-way, Awimba-way, awimba-way.." I continued for a minute or so, not knowing if it would work, but soon enough I heard a timid "in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.." We sang and marched our way home, and Elder A was angry no more.  I'm glad we spent all that time watching The Office together. Thank you, Jim.

Other than that everything is going good!! The first week in always a killer because you lose a couple days of work, but this week we are really just going to be able to hit the ground running and find some new people to teach!

Sorry I don't have a lot of time today, and this is really short! But I love you all so much. Thank you for always being such a good family to me. I am very blessed. And dad, where is my letter eh?

Bonne Semaine, je vous aime!

Elder Wood

Mother's Day

MOM!

also family

Yesterday seeing you was so crazy. I think it was the closest feeling someone could get to teleportation. It was like I was with you, just talking and being family, then I was back in Paris 30 seconds later! 'Im so glad we got to talk though! What a blessing all this modern technology is. You all looked so good and I'm go glad things are going so great!

And Mom, I'm sorry I didn't cry when I saw you (he got choked up when he saw his Dad, but nothing for me! :) HaHa). I will next time. But I hope your Mother's Day was so, so good and I love you so much! Thanks for raising me and teaching me the gospel. I wouldn't be here on a mission today if it wasn't for you! :) <3 I love ya.

Well, I don't really have a ton to say, it's only been like 10 hours since I talked to you! Things are still just going really well. Elder M found out that he is going to be zone leader in Caen, which is up north, and a guy named Elder J will be coming to replace Elder W because he's leaving too, and my step dad (new companion) will be Elder A. Pretty sweet!

I guess all the changes that are gonna go down here are pretty crazy. I don't really know any better, but all the older guys are saying that nothing like this has ever happened before. It's just really been a testimony builder lately about how the Lord prepares people! He really does qualify who He calls. Last night, I could tell Brooke was ready. She looked like a Sister missionary. And with all the new missionaries coming at younger ages, they have some big roles to fill, but I know they will all be able to do it. Even our amis and the people here, they are so ready to hear the  gospel. This time in the church is pretty unreal! Now all we need to do is just keep sharing and being good members!

This morning during personal study I read about Christ walking on the water. When Peter asked if he could come, Christ said, Come. As long as Peter was focused on Christ, he could walk on the water towards him. It was only when Peter took his focus off Christ and saw the waves that he began to sink. But he still turned back to Christ for help, and He was right there to catch him. When we are focused Christ, we really can accomplish amazing things. We can bring people back, or into the gospel, so long as our focus and goal is Christ. He really is the answer to everything. Also, another interesting point to this story is something that Grandpa Wood pointed out to me before I left. Even though he sank a little, Peter still had enough faith to get out of the boat in the first place. Our journey to Christ starts with our own willingness, we have to get out of the boat. And so long as we are focused on Him, we won't sink.

I guess that's it for this week! Today we're going to the Louvre, then working tonight and tomorrow, and I'll get my new trainer on Wednesday! Pretty stoked, a little nervous, but I can do it. Thanks for everything again! I love you all so much. Don't let that small animal poop in my room. (or is it Lizzys room now? weird.) Have a super good week!

Iloveyousosososososososososososososososomuch

Elder Wood :)

5th week France

Bonjour ma Famille!

So, Mom sent me a letter with a bunch of questions, so I will start by answering them. 

 1. The man who sent me the alluring photos is Elder W. He is one of the other missionaries in my apartment and he is really funny. He reminds my of a young Uncle Lane. But that is a girl he knows and he was just pranking me by sending her picture. He says hello to Mom. 

2. I live with my comp, Elder W and Elder T. Elder W is really funny and cool, he is from Orem, so is my comp, and he plays rugby for BYU. Elder T is from Arizona, he loves Napoleon Dynamite and basketball. And my comp is Elder M, he is also from Orem, is really good at soccer and he gets me a new cheese to try every week. Its great.

3. My appartment in about 15 minutes outside of Paris in Bourg la Reine, it's on the top floor of our building and there isn't an elevator, but ça va because it's only 4 floors. My guess is that it is about 90 years old and there are some really crazy dungeon storage things in the basement. Also its really, really tiny. The whole apartment could fit in our living room, but its nice.

4. For breakfast I usually have an egg and a bowl of musli, which is like oats and raisens and apples and bananas with some milk from a box that has like a 9 month shelf-life. Lunch is usually some sort of pasta so we have energy, lots of the time with a baguet and some cheese, camembert is my favorite. Dinner is always different, sometimes it's with a member, in which case it's some sort of African dish or just huge assortments of bread, meats and cheeses. Also we make just crazy amounts of rice and noodles with lardons, which are just big bacon squares basically. Each week I try a new pastry, and I get one of my favorite things in the world, a Kebab. I've been waiting to tell dad about them in a detailed letter, but basically its just some delicious meat from who knows what animals, in a pita-ish bread with lettuce, tomatoes and samurai sauce, and french fries. They only cost 5 euros, which is just outrageous because they are so good they should cost like 20, but I have to limit myself to one a week or less because they are super not healthy and I'd get huge.

5. Typical day, you ask? I will tell you. 

-6:30, wake up and work out. My belly is getting a little larger, but my muscles are just huge. 

Shower, eat, then studies from 8 to 11. 

11 we go contacting, or we have a lesson, usually contacting though because everybody is either out shopping or at work at that time. 

12 lunch

1-4, spiritual finding and teaching people. We try to have a rendez-vous at this time, but we do lots of porting and contacting. 

4:30- 6, dinner and language study. Awesome

6-9, golden hours. We work really hard at this time because this is when most people are either home or out doing something after work. This is when we have most of our lessons and when we find the most people. Then we just come home at 9 and plan and go do bed!

Fun right? It really really is so fun though. I feel the spirit all day and just get to talk and learn and serve the Lord. Who wouldn't want to do that?!

6. I have not seen any celebrities. But I do know some missionaries here who saw Jermain from Flight of the Condords last week and talked to him.

7.  Ya I did hear about the bombings from some American kids we met, so crazy. I'm glad they caught the guys though. And Brooke said she is just totally fine with it. She's such a champ.

8. I got the package! Thank you so so much. I haven't had a piece of candy in ages. And the tie is way cool, I made it into my power tie. And Erin, Big Catz? So good. Thank you so much. Made my day. And I will send my ipod home soon! I'd like some Alex Boye, Mindy Gledhill, and this album that I think I already mentioned called Nearer, it's super cool.

This week was super cool! Mostly Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we were just waiting for the tram and this man walked up to us and said, quote: "How can I become like you?" unquote. How nuts is that? And in English! We just talked about the godpel on the tram, and we're gonna teach him more! It was such a huge blessing, I just freaked out kind of and was just laughing for like 10 mintues after. Then we had a baptism! He is the one I've told you about before, C. It was so cool! We have all the baptisms in Versaille, which is really cool, and you pass by the château on the way there. But the service was nice, he was baptised along with another ami of the other elder's named Kareena, and it was very nice and spiritual. But I realized, I really didn't do anything. I went to Chris's house and bore my testimony, but he made every decision. He got baptised on his own, He chose, he was prepared by the Lord for that next step. It was a really cool experience and I'm really so gratefull for him! I love him a ton. Also this week was fast sunday, so I got to bear my testimony in church. One of the things I fasted for was for my French to get better and have more desire to learn, not that I don't have desire, just that it would be nice to have more of. So I pumped myself up, said my testimony a few times in my head, and went for it. I got up and said what I knew and sat down, it probably only lasted like 1 minute. But last night Elder M told me that while I was talking everyone was silent, and my French was perfect. I always thought of how cool it could be to have those moments when you can speak the language without knowing what to say, but I realised it happens to me every day. It was a huge blessing to be able share my testimony with everyone, and I really love french so much! 

Also, I would like to share something about the French people. Many, many people told me that this mission was going to be hard, that French people were mean, and lots of other things. I wish all those people could come contact with me for an hour, so they could see that the French people are kind, very loving, and very in need and prepared to hear and accept the gospel. Yes, every mission is hard, there is no such thing as an easy mission. And the France Paris mission is no different. These people are amazing! Baptisms are possible. The Lords work here is progressing at an indredible rate, and I will not let anything get in my way of finding those people here that the Lord has prepared.

Thats all I have for this week! Thank you so much for the letters, keep them coming! I am doing really good! Go share the gospel with someone this week, invite someone to church, something. Bear your testimony! I love you all so much, Bon semaine! (have a good week!)

Elder Wood

ps: I will be calling next Sunday! I can't Skype, only because there isn't a place to do it and we didn't plan well enough. But! It is much much cheaper if you call me, and the only time we can do it is at 7 o'clock here, which is 11 o'clock a.m. your time. I know you'll have to skip church, but is that okay? Let me know and I will check my email later this week, if you can't pull it off we can work something else out, but for now lets plan for Sunday the 12th at 11 a.m.

I love you!

a couple more pics

 In his apartment

in Antony