Pictures from St. Maarten

Christmas Day marked 3 months

Christmas Dinner

They wear their "magic suits" on the last Sunday of transfers

They hiked up the highest peak...Pic Paradise

Showing off his BYU shirt to Dad

Monday Message: December 30, 2013

so this week was so much better. especially because of christmas and the skype call. it made me so happy to see my family and sierra. i loved it so much! even though hangingup was probably the sencond hardest thing i have had to do in my life. the first being saying goodbye the first time! but after that the week has been pretty good. we had an opportunity to give two priesthood blessing this week! one of our investigators asked if we could give his cousin one because she was having a major ear ache and then the second was a part member family whose 7 month old daughter was really sick and they asked if we could bless her so i got to perform the blessing and i had no idea what i said but i know that the holy ghost told me what to say and by the next day they said that she seemed to be back to normal. it was a real testimony builder and i am so happy to have had that experience! so something that i learned this week is that i get so stressed out when i try to control the things that are really out of my reach. but i am learning that if i change my mindset and focus on the things i can control that the rest will be taken care of and fall into place how they are suppose to! the Lord is so powerful and he will give us the desires of our hearts and that he will help me in my life and everything will work out how they should! so i have a great story to tell! i found out that me and Elder Telga have magic suits. we made a new tradition and on the last sunday of the transfer we wear our suits to church! so since this week is that week we wore them and a miracle happened we had 5 investigators come to church and 2 of them have a baptismal date that is coming up in this transfer. it was so great to see and the work is starting to really pick up again. i love it here and am so glad that me and Elder Telga get to stay another transfer together! we are also getting another companion for a little who is waiting for a visa to go to the nethert\lands he is from suriname so that means that we will have 3 missionaries in our appartment! wish us luck! haha so this morning i did the worst and funnest thing so far on my mission! we woke up at 5 am and climbed the highest peak on the island. pic paridise! it is 424 meters above sea level which is still lower than where we live in utah but it was great you can see the whole island and the surrounding islands and as a zone we took pictures and got to watch the amazing west indies sunrise come over the horizon it was so beautiful! there is only 7 other people i wouldve wished could have been there and that is my family and sierra! but someday soon i will bring them back to this island and show them the beauties that i get to see everyday! i love you so much and am so greatful for all the support that i get from you! i love you so much and hope to hear from you soon! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

love your Elder 

Elder Woodruff!

PS pictures are on drop box!  I LOVE YOU!!!

Christmas Eve Message

So this week has been eh normal and a little tough but guess what I made it! And it’s a new week for a new effort at always improving and planting the seeds! So its crazy how many lds people we have met in the past week and they always want to take pictures of us. We even met some from tooele and when I told them I was from bear river they said “ouch:” then I had to say im sorry you have to support that aweful color purple! Haha and we all laughed! Then Tuesday we met a lady named una and she is 7 day Adventist and she was pretty accepting and we will continue to teach her but she is going to france for a month so we will have to wait. It seems like that happens a lot when you get someone to teach they leave the island!!  So Wednesday was so crazy with people there was 9 cruise ships and thousands of tourist! But we did find a lady named Britney and I guess when I shared my testimony she felt the spirit because she started to cry and was a really spiritual moment I don’t think I have ever had one that strong it was so crazy I loved that feeling! So even though this week has been rough and a week that I never want again. I know that I have learned a lot from it and have been able to grow more and more from it! I think it was just a hard week because of the season and tomorrow will make everything so much better but thank you for all of your support and everything that you have ever done for me. I promise to do my best and always strive to get better each and everyday! I know this is where I am suppose to be and I love it here! I love you so much and hope that you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! i love you

love your Elder 

Elder Woodruff 

Monday Message: December 16, 2013

This week was a good week! It wasn’t the best for the numbers side of our work but when we got a lesson it was amazing! We have a lot of great people and they are starting to fall in love with the gospel and to follow what god asks of them it is so good to see! But I will start with Tuesday and with what a hard day it was for us to have a lesson. EVERYTHING that we had planned fell through and we spent the whole day just searching and we got no where it was really different to go the day with out getting anywhere! We did have two small lessons but nothing that was anything special! But the work is getting better. On Thursday we saw a lady named bernedette and she is someone we have been teaching for a while now and before she wasn’t really to interested and she told us that she would go to any church that she could get a ride to. She only gets 1 Sunday off a month though. But the other night she told us that she knew the Book of Mormon was true but wasn’t quite sure it joseph smith was a prophet and we told her that if she knew the BOM was true than she already had a testimony that he was a prophet and when she realized that she lit up and had a huge smile on her face and said that she guessed she did have that feeling as well. She told us that on her Sunday off she was coming to our church and nothing would stop her. It was so great and I know that was the work of God and the Holy Ghost! So on Friday we have a crazy day we waited at the airport for the sisters and elder laufatte for 3 hours and then when they got back there bags got lost it was such a weird night and I feel bad for them but I guess that is the joys of this mission! Then Saturday I had a great experience and I met a guy with my same name it was weird to say “hey nate” haha but it was good we helped him paint while we taught him the message of the restoration. It was great but there was also a weird experience that I wont soon forget. As we were painting we saw this cat running full speed and it ran right past us so we watched it! And as soon as it got past us it took a left right into the road and just in time for a passing truck to hit it and it was not a pretty sight!!! It was kind of sad and a really weird feeling at the same time! I guess that was its 9^th life haha! I don’t even know how to explain it!! But this week has been quite the interesting week and I realized this week that I am truly blessed! I mean not very many people get to say they get to serve the lord full time and live on such beautiful islands at the same time. I love it here and know that this is where I am suppose to be and as long as I trust the lord and lean not unto my own understanding he will guide me and keep everything in order for me back at home and that there is no worries! I am really greatful for this opportunity and I love it!!! Thanks for all you do for me and the support that you give me! I love you! you dont know how much you mean to me and i can never say i love you enough! and i will never be able to express all the love i have for you!! i love you so much!!!

                Love

                Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: December 9, 2013

This week has been a much better week! We got the truck that the wrights left so now we don’t have to walk as much which is good and bad! But this Tuesday was rough because I got really sick and just felt miserable in all of our lessons but I survived the day and now everything is much better! Even though this week we had a couple of lessons that were only in creole so I just sat there! I hate those kind of lessons and that is when I wish I could be able to learn the language but it is so hard that I kind of gave up but maybe one day it will be easier for me! But this week was much better it was like there was this comforting peace that I felt and I knew this is the lords errand and that everything will be taken care of and I don’t need to worry I love it here! We had a lot of great lessons this week and great investigators that we hope can continue to progress I just hope and pray that they do! I hope next week will be this good as well! So we started to work out to music in the morning and you should see us it is so fun and I actually enjoy it but ya maybe I will record it some day if you are lucky haha!  So the crazy story for the week is that we got told that you only ever see two young men walking around so that means we have to be homosexuals! Crazy people we took like fifteen minutes explaining we weren’t gay and I told him like 10 times that I had the most beautiful girl in the world at home waiting for me!! Crazy! But I told him the truth! The most amazing, and beautiful girl is at home waiting and I cant wait to be back with her again! I love her!!  I love you so much and thank you for your support I hope to hear back soon and pray that you have a great week!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

                Love

                                Elder Woodruff

Ps I love you so much!!

Week 7

Wow what a week! It has been one tough one If I can even say that. I don’t know if I could have gone any lower than I did! But this week is looking up! I know that the lord answers prayers and fasts! So I also know that god guides us to people we need to meet this week he had us have our backups fall through and he led us to shannella and I know because she had so many questions that we answered and we didn’t even plan to see her that was such a testimony and trust builder! But also this week we found out Phenier who is suppose to be baptized on the 14^th suddenly left the island and went to Haiti and we don’t know why or when he will come back! I hope soon! He was really progressing and he wanted to be baptized! I don’t know what is wrong but we seem to get so close to helping people get baptized and something happens! I am striving so hard to be exactly obedient and I know that it will start to receive the blessings from that. But I hope that I can help people more and that I wont get so down on myself!  So I met a man who didn’t believe in god! That was a first and it is so crazy how people can say that but we tried to teach him and he declined. Its hard sometimes but all we can do is invite and hope they accept! Then we had the opportunity to go and give sister hanley (90 year old member) a blessing and I know that god hears us and is there it was so amazing to feel the spirit! I have gained a testimony of the BOM and I know it is true it is a great book and I challenge you to Read It! So this week I got told I looked like a 14 year old crazy people ugh hahaJ  so I am also becoming an islander because at night I get cold now! I never thought I would say that I could get cold but I do I cant imagine what will happen when I get home I will Freeze!!!! But this week I also found out that I don’t really want to go to SUU anymore! I have realized that I want to be closer to the things and the people that I love! And even though it is only 5 hours I want to be with the people I love!!! I love you so much and I have found out that before I go to bed is the best time to think about you! I truly know that we will be together soon and that this 22 months will be faster than I know it. I am not wishing away my days I promise to do my best and be obedient and I will see you soon. I love you!! Have a great week and I will talk to you soon! I love you!!! I love you!!! I love you!!! I love you!!! I love you!!!

                Love your elder

                                Elder Woodruff

TWO MONTHS DOWN!

He sounded great when I got to email back and forth with him today! He loves to hear about Ellerie. Unfortunately my mom did have some problems with the bank this morning! Nate emailed saying he couldn't get money out of any ATM because it said his account was locked and he only had $4 left from last week. Needless to say, both my mom and I were frustrated. She didn't have such a great experience with the bank...they said they had to lock it due to fraud. But they have known since day one that he would be there and he hasn't had a problem until today?! It makes my heart hurt that he was unable to get groceries and the other things he needs for the week!! Please pray that all will be well!! On a better note...we hit the TWO MONTH mark today!! Here is his email...

So this week has been quite the week. I guess I was expecting a better one than last week but that was the complete opposite. I guess everyone has to get knocked off their high horse every once in a while! But oh well that is the life. I know that my heavenly father loves me and is watching out for me no matter what. I know that he has listened to my prayers and is mindfull of ME I know that he answers prays and this week he has helped me so much! I have come to appreciate the Holy Ghost and the comfort and feelings of peace he can give me. I love prayer it is the greatest tool that we have as saints! So this week we got our new branch pres and it is elder thompson the new senior missionary! I know he will do great and will help the branch! Also the two new missionaries arrived so I am not the newby now I just hope that I can be a good example for them like the others have been for me! I have learned that we all can endure trials only through the help of God and as long as we put trust in him and have faith he provides a way for us. I love this gospel so much and continue to learn and love it even more! So also since thanksgiving isnt celebrated here but the branch has so many americans we had an amazing branch dinner and it was so great and a good time to make the branch stronger. I am so greatful to be serving at this time and I know this is where I need to be! So I gave my self a hair cut this week can I say what an experience haha! It looks pretty good might I add and it saves us money so we can eat the last week of transfers not like last transfer where we went the whole week on romen noodles because we had a total of 6 dollars for the week haha we plan to budget better this time we hope. This coming week should be better so don’t worry about me. I will be fine! I love you so much! And love the support that I receive! Oh ya so people here think mormons are crazy the story we heard this week was that we lock the doors on Sundays with people inside and we let huge snakes go inside! What a story huh. People don’t understand we are normal people too! Haha I just wonder what I will hear next. But that was my week. I know it will be better. I now have 2 months down and it is flying by!(somedays). I love you and hope to hear back soon. You are in my prayers and thoughts. I LOVE YOU!!! I love you with all my heart!!

Love your elder

Elder Woodruff!

Pictures from St. Maarten

Zone Conference

Week #6

So this week has been the best week so far! I found out I am in st maarten for at least 6 more weeks and that I am so excited. The thing is that we get two brand new missionaries here so I am not the “GREENIE” any more haha! We also got the new senior couple the Thompsons this week and they are so nice and will be great! The only problem is that they took our car until the Wrights leave in December and we have to walk everywhere! But its all good because that means I can lose some weight and gain muscle so I don’t have any fat! But my legs are so sore and tired but it makes me feel like I am a real missionary now haha!  But this week has been good because on Wednesday it was like the switch flipped and everything was ok and I knew that everything would be taken care of at home as long as I was doing my best here and that the way would be provided for me! I have really gained a trust in the Lord and put everything I have in his hands. I know everything will be ok at home and that things will work out how we want! So this week on Wednesday I also had a great experience! I got to give a priesthood blessing and it was amazing how the spirit works. I don’t know  how good the blessing was but I know that god accepted it and that it will be a good help. I love that experience! So I found a talk by D. Todd Christofferson “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” it is my favorite talk and It has helped me so much to know how God works and it has strengthened me so much! Also this Sunday was the primary program. And I remember when I was at home that I hated this time when it was the program because it was boring. But I llearned a great lesson this week that we can learn so much from the simple truths that they tell us. They also sang “ a childs prayer” which is my favorite! And in the end the congregation joined in and the spirit touched me so strong that I started to cry! I couldn’t stop which was bad because missionaries don’t cry! But I knew it was because the spirit was there and I loved that feeling! I love the spirit and this gospel. Also this week we had 2 investigators come to church and I was so happy it was so great! They are progressing well and hopefully have a baptism coming up real soon. The work is coming along great and I love it. I love the mission! So we finished watching all of the dvds that we had in our apartment that are approved. So guess what we started to watch? You guessed it conferences haha! Yes I love them. Even though I never liked conference before. I never knew what I was missing I love it now. This is the best thing in the world! I learn a lot even from the ones way back in 2009 and before its so great. I know you probably think wow he is just realizing this but yes I am and its funny that I am entertained and can laugh from watching conference but it is great haha! Well that was my week I hope to hear from you soon and get letters. I love you so much and want you to never forget that!!!! I LOVE YOU !!!!!! thanks for all of the support. I love you!

Love always your elder

Elder woodruff

PS I love you and I will never stop to love you!!

Week #5

**He never hit send on this email from last week but we got it today!**

Hey!

I love you so so so much! This week has been ok! There was zone conference in Guadeloupe and we flew there Monday! It was great we stayed till Wednesday morning and then came home. We have started to go jogging by the beach every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday it is so fun to be able to be by the water and see its beauty even though we cant go swimming! Haha  but yes I love how close we are to the ocean. So Friday and Saturday were kinda hard days for me I have no idea why but it just hit with the homesickness so hard I couldn’t stand it it was rough. But I prayed a lot and I made it through it with the help of the lord! I love prayer so much.  So this week we have to push krystals baptism date back because she hasn’t been coming to church. We are trying so hard to help her in her life and I know that the lord is trying to bless her. We hope that she will have the desire to change because she has told us that she wants to be baptized we just need to help her come to church and want to change! She is gaining a strong testimony as well. This week we met a family named the hodges but I want to just focus on the son who is 26. His name is Angelo! He is a prison guard and he told us ever since we taught him the first lesson he has felt so much more at peace. He even took the pamphlet and read some of it to some prisoners haha which is crazy. He is so cool and I think his family will be interested as well. I love him so much he is the best. So yes we have a lot of baptismal dates but we have the struggle of them attending church so we have to push them back but they should start coming soon and we will see progress very soon I hope. Then we will have baptisms and be bringing others unto Christ. So I have also gained the weight back so don’t worry haha I just hope it is muscle! I love you haha! So I got the letters and I love to receive them thank you so much for sending them! So also you know how when I left I said I would never have to mow a lawn again for two years. I lied I had to mow the church lawn haah ya not so fun!!:) So today is st martins day so I couldn’t send any letters because everything is closed but I wrote them and I will send them this week so they will come. I promise. I love you !!!! so also we have finally been offered to go to a dinner it is awesome. The Maxwell family invited us. I love this family they are like my brother and sisters I can talk to her about anything and she always knows what to say. They are so sweet. I love them. And I love you! I hope that you have a great week and I cant wait to hear from you. I love you so much and am so greatful to have you in my life! 

Week 4

so i have found out that mondays are the best and the worst days i get to hear from you but i also wish i could talk with you longer and it makes it so hard to leave the computer. ugh but oh well mondays are still my favorite day by far. but i was reading in the july liahona! yes that is my entertainment haha!:) and i came across the talk "With god nothing shall be impossible and i challenge you to read it it has helped me so much i love the liahona. I LOVE YOU! 

but also i found out that it is daylight savings time and so now it is 3 hours difference so when you wake up i am ready to go out for the day and when i go to bed you are just eating dinner which is so weird. but the time doesnt change here the sun comes up at 6 and goes down at 6l all year around!

 so i got some letters on wednesday and i loved them keep sending them they make mehappy!

so this week was a little rough wiith weekly planning and homesickness but it got better. I love you so much! also i heard a member give such an amazing conversion story i wish  i had time to tell it maybe at the homecoming:) and yes it rains a lot enough that the roads flood to the doors ot the cars it sucks to walk in! but i am eating healthy next week i will post a picture of the dinner i made the other night it was as good as it looks. it was amazing. i have learned that prayers help a lot and i challenge you to pray often they do get answered. i love being able to pray always. so saturday was probably the longest day i woke up at 530 and started a service project at 7 and we painted a school for 5 hours it was long but worth it. service is awesome> well i am headed to guadeloupe for a zone conference! so have a safe week. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Love your elder

Elder Woodruff

Week 3

so this week has been a lot better. some days go by fast but others take forever but it is crazy how fast the week goes by! but we learned a great lesson on being obedient this week! so last Monday night it was raining so hard that there was major flooding in the road. but we still had to go work. so we pretty much had to kick our selves out of the apartment and go contacting. no buddy would come to the door they would look out the window and say not interested and just as we were about to go home. the Thomas family let us in and we got to teach them the restoration and they were actually interested. which was a miracle! we have worked with them a lot this week and the have a baptismal date for the 30th of November i am so excited and hope that they will be ready for this day!

so next we met with a man named phenier. he said he had been to all of the other churches and knew something was missing. so he said our church was the last one he would try and if it wasn't true he would lock himself in his room and read the bible and that would be his religion! but i know he will find out it is true and that he has a baptismal date for the 16th of November! it will hopefully be a busy month for us i hope because we have 5-7 investigators that have baptismal dates for this month. i hope they start to keep there commitments because we went another week with no investigators at church which means they cant get baptized yet so i pray for them to come next week! keep your fingers crossed.

so this week we did an exchange so i was with elder laufatte walking. lets just say i am so grateful that i have a  car it is so nice and i am blessed. but i have never been so sore in my life!. haha  we have another one next week but i will be ready and it will be better. 

also we had a ward talent show and the people here are really talented. it was nice to be able to relax for a little and not worry about the stress of missionary life.

OH also i have learned to enjoy cleaning! me and elder telga blast the Mormon tabernacle choir and just go crazy it is so fun and nice to be able to laugh and enjoy each other.

also i have learned a great lesson from Alma 57:21 and i have loved to remember what my mom has taught me and i know that it has helped me so much and to be exactly obedient.I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!I LOVE YOU !!!

Love your elder

Elder Woodruff

Week #2

So this week has been somewhat better. I have been studying and praying a lot about the homesickness and I found the scripture D&C 31 and that helped A LOT! So let me tell you about some of our investigators! First there is Kimberly she is 28 and has a daughter she had told us that the day before we showed up her and the daughters father had had a big separation that involved the cops so it was funny that we showed up cause she was looking for something like us in her life. She is so nice and I think she understands and wants to know the truth. I think she will progress really good. It's crazy how God works like that in our lives. The next is 2 sisters Keoma and Keshana they are 28 and 20. We have taught them 2 times and I think Keshana is starting to know the truth but Keoma is stuck on the prophet thing which is hard but we are trying to help her through they are so nice. We have to sit outside their door and they stay inside to teach them though because there is not another male in the house it's the same with Kimberly as well. And a lot of people like that we teach. The next is Steing. He is 22 and he has a strong testimony but he is afraid of what his mom would do if he joined the church. We fasted with him on Friday and within an hour he called us and said "I met the Mormons" he had met a couple that were on there honeymoon and they testified to him of the truth of the gospel and he told them what we had taught him. It was a great experience. Next is Krystal. She was a prog. investigator before I got here. But the problem is that she was living with her boyfriend so she couldn't be baptized. Once we taught her the law of chastity though she knew she had to change so she decided to move out and now she has a baptism date for the 23 of November. We are just praying that she keeps her commitments to be able to be baptized. Next we met a less active member the other day whose name is Bernadette. She is older and didn't really want to talk to us very much at first but we finally broke the ice and she opened up really well she wanted us to teach her about the ranks of authority in the church and draw a pic. Then at the end she asked if we would sing to her "I am a child of god." I'm sure it didn't sound the best but i know the spirit was there.
Then she said the closing prayer and she said thank you for sending these young men at this time that my spirits have been down and allowing me to have peace and joy in my life again. That hit me so hard I know that we were suppose to be there at that exact time for a reason! And don't worry about me eating I eat fine and I'm trying to eat healthier and we work out all the time. I drink a lot of water it is my favorite now because I sweat a lot. But i have lost a lot of weight since i got here. I now weight 112 pounds but i know that I just lost all of the fat I had and I will gain it back in muscle! Don't worry I am still healthy and drink a lot of water. my comp thinks I am a  camel. I am now a pro at ironing shirts because I have to do it every morning no matter what but I can do a shirt in 1 minute or less haha! Pictures are on there way so you can just ask my mom to see them and show you the places. I love you so much. And really the only problem I have is I don't sleep the best so I struggle getting up and going and I wish I could sleep through the whole night for once haha but it should get better. The church here is just a branch and half of the branch is med students that are studying here but its nice and the weather is good except today it has rained more than the first BYU game I ever went to there is 1 1/2 feet of water in the road its crazy. I pray for you each night and morning and always remember that I love you so so so much! NEVER FORGET THAT!!!! I LOVE YOU! I love you!

Love

Elder Woodruff

The Hardest Week

Today was Nate's P-Day. As I was emailing with him back and forth he mentioned that he is very homesick. He is keeping his spirits up though and knows what he is doing is right. He said he lived off Ramen Noodles the last week but they finally had a chance to go grocery shopping today. Luckily his companion knows how to cook! ;) Here is the email he sent home...

wow can I say what a week. you know how I said that the week in the mtc was the hardest week of my life. well I lied( I know that's bad to do as a missionary) but I didn't know that it could get harder than that. this week has been really been a real trial for me. I have been so homesick. I didn't know any one could get so homesick! I love all of your support though. I Love You. so my companion is elder telga he is from the island of Martinique in the WIM( west indies mission). he speaks French and went to the mtc for English so some times he is hard to understand but we communicate good. when I got to Trinidad and talked to president Mehr he told me about my companion and said " oh it would probably be a good idea to learn French!" so I am trying to learn French. he is 23 and was baptized 2 years ago. he is amazing. the island is beautiful at the beach areas and were the tourist visit. but there is a lot of places that tourist don't see and they can get pretty scary. but I love it here and I love the people they all are so nice even if they don't want us to come back they just make appointments and then never follow up which is kind of frustrating but oh well that's how it is I guess. it is hot here and I sweat so much like a gallon or more a day haha:) ok probably not that much but a lot! I love you! we have another set of elders and a set of sisters as well and one senior couple but they leave in December. we are suppose to get another senior couple soon but they wont know French so we don't know how well they will be able to communicate. but my scariest moment came the other night while we were contacting in an apartment complex. we met a man named tony. tony seemed so excited to see us and so I thought he was ready to resieve the gospel and be baptized! I was completely wrong. he was a Jehovah witness along with his wife. so basically he bible bashed with us for 45 minutes and every time we tried to answer be kept talking so he was talking to himself. then when we went to leave he said not even to pray on our knees that night because it allows satan to grab us. I know that I was basically talking to satan face to face that night. it really helped my testimony though. it testified to me that this is the true gospel on the earth today and that joseph smith is a true prophet of God and was called to do his work. Everything in this gospel is true and if it wasn't the missionaries would have proved it a long time ago. THIS IS THE TRUE GOSPEL OF CHRIST! I know it. so a little bit about the island it is pretty much like the usa. the money is the same. they drive on the same side of the road but there is no speed limit or stop signs. and the music is the same. this is what leads to a lot of the homesickness. but I know of your love and I want you to know that I love you and DONT EVER forget that! thanks for all of your support and I love you.

He loves letters and would love to hear from all of you! His new address is...

 Elder Nathanial Woodruff

ST Maarten

#3 Queen Palm Dr

2nd floor, Cole Bay

St Marteen, N.A.

Pictures from the MTC

My name tag with the dork dot on it haha I took it off as soon as I could :)

My desk

Me and Elder Hardy at the Joseph Smith statue on campus

Our district at the temple

Our group

Saying goodbye to Elder Bailey

Me and Elder Gotipati, the Indian going to India

Our room

Wearing the tie Sierra sent

My cluttered desk but I know where everything is

The class

Our combined candy box with Elder Dye being weird

My favorite teacher Sister Knowlton (the one sitting down) she is awesome!

I actually make my bed, you would be so proud!

Our district with one of our teachers Brother Boddy

Elder Patatefa - "what you talking about Willis"

Me wearing the ugly tie. It wasn't too bad. I kinda like it.

Elder Dye being photogenic

This is the sisters when they were glaring at me! Don't make them mad.

The stadium you can see from our class

This is my companion giving another history lesson

Elder Wilson telling us he loved us always! He reminds me of Tristin.

All of our Elders in our different country shirts. We were bored so we all bought different shirts.

A random acorn landed on my shoe.

He made it!

i made it safe. my p day is on monday so i will write as soon as i can and email you on monday. i am actually going to st. maartin. i love you and talk to you soon. you guys are great and such a support. i am excited and it will be a great experience. i love you all so so much. dont worry about me. i will get you an address so i can get letters. i love you!!

On His Way!

This morning we got a call from Elder Woodruff! They left the MTC at 2:45 this morning and their flight to Ft. Worth, TX left at 6:45. He didn't have time to call from SLC so he called while they were on their layover in Texas. He sounded great and so different! He said they had a lot of fun in the MTC and played hallway baseball a lot (mom sent a "Missionary Green Eggs and Ham" book that made for a great bat)! They were headed to Miami, FL for another layover and will then fly into Trinidad and Tobago. He will be at the mission home for a few days and then has been assigned to St. Lucia, he will leave on Wednesday. He seemed really excited/nervous and has asked for MORE LETTERS! His mission president has asked that we don't send packages because they would have to pay customs and wait in line to get them. Mom did some research and to send a 4 page letter it will cost $1.05. I will post his address in St. Lucia just as soon as we get it. He sent home an SD Card before he left the MTC so we should be getting some pictures soon!

Friday = P Day!

We got to email back and forth with Nate on Friday (the 4th). He said that he had been sick with a cold the last few days which made things hard. They got to go to the temple and he experienced doing his own laundry for the first time, it was busy he said. He shared this special experience with us...

"I was going to tell you about our investigator. Her name was Michelle and she didn't believe in Christ or the bible. So we met with her the first day and we had such a spiritual lesson on the love our Heavenly Father has for us. And then we asked her to pray but she turned us down and then we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and she agreed and to pray about it by herself and she agreed to that too! Then the next lesson we taught we followed up on the reading and she only read the introduction which was sad but she did pray but didn't feel anything after she prayed so we were worried. But then she started talking to us and we learned that she felt really stressed and felt the weight of the world on her shoulders so we talked to and gave her some scriptures that taught about Christ's atonement and she started to bawl. So we invited her to pray and she turned us down but we kept teaching and than by the end we were all 5 crying because the spirit was so strong and I got the impression to ask her to pray again and she accepted and gave the most humble prayer ever! So we all started crying more. But it was so amazing. Then the worst part was we had to tell her we were getting transferred and we only got to see her the 2 times. I really got to know her and feel a love for her that I know God has for her and for all of us."

They met in different rooms to watch conference and there is 7 elders and 3 sisters who will be going to the West Indies with him, plus some french and dutch speakers he said.

Homesick

His first few days at the MTC was hard. He said he was really homesick which is only reasonable considering he has never been away from home. 

September 30, 2013

"Thank you so much for the package! You really don't need to send packages, I don't eat the candy! Haha and no one else really does because we are too busy. So it's been rough here but letters really help. If I could get letters I would want them more than anything. I do miss home and it's been a hard transition for me but I know that if I endure to the end that I and the whole family will be blessed. I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying that things will get easier and that I will be able to understand what to do and why I am really here. Converting myself fully is my first job I have to do. I am trying to put my full trust in the Lord and have faith in him. Then I know I can help others. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon."

That is never an easy thing to hear. However, the next few letters that my mom received he seemed to be doing much better. He said that the saying "you just have to make it to Sunday" is so true. He said he had many spiritual experiences that day and that he felt a lot better.

MTC Drop-Off

On Wednesday, September 25, 2013, Elder Woodruff entered the Provo Missionary Training Center. It was a good day spent as a family, but also one of the hardest things we have had to do. We began the day with hot rolls and gravy from the Pie Dump and left Tremonton around 9:30. We arrived in Provo and went to lunch at Nate's favorite place: Costa Vida. We then went to the temple and walked the temple grounds, took lots of pictures, and said our final goodbyes. His drop-off time was at 1:30. I (Kelsey) have never seen so many missionaries before as we drove down the long line of drop-off spots. We pulled over to the side and in popped Nate's host to whisk him away. He opened my mom's door and let my parents get out to say one last goodbye. It was a tender moment watching him walk away, but we all knew that he would be in the best of hands.