Monday Message: September 22, 2014

 So this week has been pretty crazy to say the least! well actually it was saturday that made is so crazy! so the fun story of the week is Saturday we started of the day doing service for some members who needed us to fetch some dirt from the front of the house to the back. so we spent a little over 3 hours doing that in the mean time i got sunburnt and everyone was laughing at the white boy who is now pink haha! So after we went home and changed to go out and teach, also one of the members brother offered to take us crab hunting so we went back and changed again but when we got there he stood us up which made us go back and change again! so by the end of the day i had taken 4 showers haha that is how hot it is! But to add to the day i had my first death threat! (mom dont freak out the man was drunk and couldnt even catch me if he tried) so i just smiled and gave him a thumbs up and laughed haha! then to top off the craziest day of my life. i was racing elder mitchell home on our bikes in the pitch dark( not the smartest) luckily i had just tightened my brakes earlier! When out of the dark this dog came out of no where head on and i hit it! i had just enough time to lock up my brakes and skid a little out of the way. but i still hit it pretty hard! i have never laughed so much in my life at how scared i was! (dont feel bad for the dog it is fine) and plus the dogs here are gross to no body takes care of them and they are disgusting! i am fine as well nothing happened but a small cut on my leg from when i kicked my handle bar! but it was by far the craziest day of my life!

Other than that the week has been normal. not much has gone on. we are preparing for zone conference tomorrow and then it is HUMP DAY!!!! on thursday! this year has gone by fast! I also get to go to suriname for the first time on thursday as well to get a stamp in my passport to allow me to be legal in the country for at least 3 more months!

I hope that all is finding you well back at home. isnt it about to get cold? here it is getting hotter each day! have a great week and be safe! i will do the same as well. i hope to hear from you next week!'

Love

Elder Woodruff!

Monday Message: September 15, 2014

This week has been a good week but also a scrambled week! With Elder Brown leaving and Elder Mitchell arriving i have been trying to juggle everything and make sure that we dont leave out any of our investigators and that we make the transition as smooth as possible. i believe that Elder Mitchell and I are beginning to work together pretty good and we are learning to teach in unity! This past couple of days i have learned a lot about myself and about how much i actually understand about the gospel! Everything is starting to work together in my mind so that i can link the doctrines together. i have been working really hard to learn and better my teaching skills and it is beginning to help a lot!

One success that we had this week is the baptism of Shivanie Harracheran. She is the daughter of one of or investigators named Riya. Riya is waiting for her birth certificate to be married and she is also planning on being baptized! i am so happy to have been apart of shivanie's teaching and we are going to continue to help her and her family to live the gospel.

Other than that my week has been good and hard. with learning to live with a new person and having to adjust, To dealing with a sore back that i hurt while moving an investigator to a new house! who knew that i would be able to carry a whole stove by myself up some stairs haha:) i am fine though and doing great.

Being a senior companion is a big change though! it has helped me and scared me as well i just hope that i can be a good example and leader and then soon it will all pay off. i do feel like i have grown so much even in the past week and i hope that i continue to grow even more over the next transfer! the only thing is getting used to serving around a non american again because of the different cultures but it will be good and we will get along good. it is improving day by day!

I hope that you have a great week and sorry it is a short one this week i dont have much to say! but will have more next week! just remember Moroni 10:32 my favorite scripture right now! I LOVE YOU!!!! Be safe!

Love your Elder

Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: September 8, 2014

This week has been full of different surprises! I am happy to stay here in New Amsterdam and to be able to lead the area. but i am sad that Elder Brown has to leave. i loved working with him and he is such a great missionary i know he will do great as a Zone Leader. I am a little worried about leading the area but i know that i can do it with the help of the Lord. I just hope that i can live up to Elder Brown and help the people as much as he has! i have learned so much from him and he has made me grow and become a better missionary . I am who i am today because of him!

A success that we had this week was a boy named Ronaldo Adams. he is 17 and is really prepared to hear the Gospel and to change his life. he has a baptismal date for the 27th of September. We are also teaching a group of kids and their mom/Aunt who have all accepted baptism for the 20th of september and they are preparing. they are great and really understand and ask questions! the only problem is that with them all together it sometimes has small distractions that we have to keep under control. I am excited to be able to work with Elder Mitchell. I have been praying and pondering about a baptismal date Goal for this transfer and i will pray for it with Elder Mitchell as well but i feel like the lord has accepted a Goal of 7 this transfer! i am going to do all that i can in my power to help our investigators gain the testimony of the Book of Mormon and then i know that everything will fall into place! Lately i have been doing extra study from the Doctrine and Covenants and i have learned so much! Elder Brown has taught me how to improve my studies so much!

So i am doing great and i am happy! i have truly come to love the Book of Mormon so much and it is a huge tool in my life! i was just thinking to myself today at the life that i have a head of me and what i have already accomplishes in the year that i have been out. i have definately had my good days and my BAD days. and it has been quite the roller coaster ride in the past year. but looking back at it it has changed my life and attitude toward life completely! i remember the nights that i layed awake just wondering if i wanted to serve and the nights that i dropped sleep so fast because i was certain i would serve. now i have nights here when i lay awake wondering what more can i do and nights that i am so tired i can barely change close before falling asleep. i can tell you that the mission is the most rewarding yet challenging thing in my life. some days i wish i could be here for the rest of my life and not worry about anything but the Lords work, and other days i wish i could be home and start a real life and go to school. yes i miss school crazy right. you might want to save that so i will remember i said it haha;) i just dont know what school i want to go to i am thinking of probably UVU but who knows? that is what scares me is having to choose! but i came across a scripture that settled my mind and really taught me a lesson that i wont forget i hope. Its found in The Words of Christ when he appeared in the America's in 3 Nephi 13:33-34 " 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof." i just realized that if i focus on today and on serving the Lord he will take care of tomorrow for me and everything will work out for me and fall in to place. therefore trust in the Lord and he will direct our paths! i hope that you have a great week and that everything goes well. I LOVE YOU!!! please be safe and happy!

Love
Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: September 1, 2014

Well this week has been good! we had the baptism of Bryan Linde on Thursday and Sonia Bhisundial on Saturday and they were both confirmed yesterday. That was a great success for us this week. But we had a struggle at meeting with some of the other investigators this week and so we had a bit of a slow week. That is the past though and we have good plans and goals set for this week so it will get us right back on tract and hopefully we can have another baptism of a little girl named chavanie. we have been working with chavanie for awhile now and we were just waiting for her mothers permission, and she finally said we could this week! Her mom is an investigator as well that we have been working with, but she is waiting for her birth certificate to come from the lawyer so that she can be legally married and then baptized!

I also got to go to a Hindu Wedding yesterday. some of the members took us and it was so fun! all the people were wearing their saries and the men the indian wear. i love this culture and all the things i am able to experience! the people are also so nice to us and we had so much food given to us. we got to eat the 7 curry out of a leaf and with our hands it was so fun! and i was so stuffed afterwards haha! i am now beginning to love any food i get because everyone feeds us and if i dont eat they get offended so i love food haha!

I had a little bit of a scare for me this week though. idk if i should say because it really isnt anything big so dont worry. but the place where i got my shingles on my chest well it scared so you can still see where it is but one night i came home and felt a pain right there and looked at it and i honestly thought i had shingles again! but it was a false alarm and just a pimple so i am fine and healthy. the only problem is that people say the mosquitos like my face because i have a lot of zits and marks from the hear but other than that i am great and doing well.

i am coming up on my year mark! and it is so crazy! just yesterday i left and now i am halfway through! i am about to complete the D&C just like my goal was to before my year! then i will start on the New testiment and i should finish that just before my 18 month mark! my goal is not just to read them to read though i want to take this time that i have to study and to really get things out of it so that is what i am doing! i mark like crazy and try to memorize things that will not only help me here in the mission but also in real life when i get home!

I hope that you have a great week and that you are safe and dont do anything stupid!! i will do the same! I love you!!! and have a wonderful week:)

Love
Elder Woodruff