Monday Message: November 24, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving to all haha. i almost forgot about the whole holiday can you believe that? All up untill yesterday when Sis. Kirton told me that the turkeys were out in the back yard at home. i am so glad that i have someone who can give me updates through out the week it is great! The weeks have really started to speed up sometimes i dont even remember what day it is and then all of the sudden it is monday again! I am feeling a lot better than i was last week and the pain has gone away from my chest. everybody is a big help to me and i can see that they really care for me. Pres Mehr even has given me tips on what to do haha!

So I have a sweet experience that im not sure anyone else really caught but the spirit really touched me when we had our last branch counsel! So Pres. Kirton asked us ( me) to teach something to the Leaders of the branch so we chose to teach about becoming a self reliant branch and so we will work towards not having to use out of area tithes and offerings to run the branch. im not going to lie we have a ways to go but it is a goal and it is possible. But as we were teaching many of the leaders were telling us as missionaries about how we havent done our job and we havent helped them. This usually makes me upset and i have learned to hold it in ( really practicing humility haha) but this time i had to be bold and told the members that we are only here to help them do the Job that is really theirs and we are going to do everything possible to benifet the branch but that means that they must help too. i was told that i was wrong and we havent done our job but i just taught a little doctrine and then closed the lesson. then i didnt think much of it anymore and i wasnt expecting any apology or response, but then Sister Kirton stood up for us. She said (in my words because i cant speak the guyanese slang as good and you wouldnt understand) These missionaries are doing a great job. we have seen a low and now are seeing the high of attendance but we cant blame it on them it is blamed on us. as members we havent really done our part. Before ishe said she never realized how hard the mission is. but since her daughter has been out and she gets the letters of discouragement and hard ship but also the letters of happiness and success it has really changed her outlook on things. she said it is hard for these two to be here and we arent making it easier for them inless we help them. she almost started to cry i think and so did I! I am so grateful for her wonderful testimony and also her husbands. they are the so great and will always have a place in my heart. I do love this Gospel and i continue to learn everyday! i will never stop learning or reach a point that i know everything there is to know. everybody can learn and continue to learn. please study and pray. I love you so much and please be safe this week. i will do the same! 

I LOVE YOU!!!

love 

Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: November 17, 2014

Hey how are you doing? i feel like i dont ask any questions about back at home and i want to have answers haha! I hear the weather is freezing? guess what it is here in Guyana today! yupp Hott and Sunny haha sorry had to rub it in. But if it makes you feel better i really miss the snow and cold i want to snowboard so bad right now! Ive been thinking a lot about all the things that i use to do back at home and that is one thing that comes to mind! other than hunting and baseball of course! I played cricket with some young men this week and it just isnt the same. Baseball is by far the better sport out of the two, dont get me wrong though i do love to play cricket!

This week in church youll never believe me but we had 83 people and it was packed. i was so happy to see that many come. Pres. kirton says that usually happens around the holiday though and we will see if it stays. i sure hope it does! 

Can you believe that i have been in Guyana for almost 4 transfers now. doesnt seem like a lot but this is the longest i have been in one area! almost 5 months now close to 6 by the end of the transfer. i dont know if i want to leave or stay. some days i feel drained from the area and others i never want to leave! I do feel like i will be leaving the area though and idk if i want that right before christmas but we will see!

So dont worry about this next part everything is ok. I talked to Sister Thompson who is the new mission doctor and told her that i was having a hard time catching my breath and my heart was racing. Not anything really big just taking a precaution and she said to just take a rest for a day and see if it calms down! so i did yesterday and it worked. she also said she thinks it was just anxiety and that if it happens just to take a minute and breath and then go and solve the anxiety or stress. so i am fine and doing good! no worries! I hope that you have a great week and be safe! I love you! 

Love 

Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: November 10, 2014

Well this week is over! i dont know what more i can say about it! it was a pretty slow week with not much going on. we had an ok week of lessons even through the sickness. i dont know what it is but we cant go a whole week without one of us being sick! the forces of Guyana are getting at us haha! We have just finished week 3 of this transfer and i feel like it is slow. i feel like i will probably be leaving guyana this time or at least a change of scenary! we are doing good but it could be better. Obedience is a big issue on things. and if someone from the caribbean doesnt want to change they wont. but we are still working and trying to get past it!

Right now i feel like i am trying to teach three different things all from my companion, the branch and the investigators! I am working with the branch at trying to gain unity and work together to help them grow, but they arent realizing that it is their job and we are just the help. we cant do everything even though we try our best! The Branch Councel meetings that we have are so crazy sometimes. THey last an hour or more and nothing is settled or done. Sometimes i miss the structure of a bigger ward but then again i like to help them get to that point! I have seen this branch go from 85 members all the way to 26 and then slowly climb up to the 70 that we had yesterday! that is a big range. I also have like 3 callings that i fill in for people who arent there! i am a pianist, secritary/clerk/1st couselor, plus elders quorum teacher! i guess all those years of being a leader in the young men has helped me a lot! I love teaching but sometimes it is hard when they dont under stand the basics so we spend a lot of time on the basics! and i want to teach more than that. But it is good! 

Im sorry this week was so short. i also didnt take any pictures this week but i will do better at that! next week will be more! i promise! have a great week. and thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf! i love you! Be safe!

Love 

Elder Nathanial Woodruff!

Monday Message: November 3, 2014

So this week has been full of plenty ups and downs! Elder Mitchell and I were sick at the start of the week, and also the end! but we still forced through it and went to work. Guyana is great and i love it but it sure likes to make you feel bad throughout the days! i feel like it is really trying to get at me but i wont allow that to stop me! We have been really focusing on our Investigators who we feel are the Elect this week and many of them are on their way to baptism. and they have accepted dates! i am so excited to see them continue to grow. We even have an investigator who is from Nigeria and he is so ready for the Gospel the only part that is hard for him is when we talk about the priesthood being lost for the apostacy and he said that if he can just understand that it was really lost he will know everything else is true! I know that that will only come when he knows the Book of Mormon is true and so we actually found a Book of Mormon that is in his native language IGBO and it is coming for him. i cant wait to give it to him and see the converting power of the Best book ever!

So also today i have had a spiritual witness about the lord having a hand in all things! We were traveling to Georgetown for a Zone activity. We were almost out of gas and looking for a place to fuel up, but none of the gas stations had the gas yet for the day. We had pulled over for a split second to ask a guy about it and he just waved us on. We hadnt stopped for more than 10 seconds before we left. Then just a few miles down the road we were coming up to a turn and an on coming car was coming at us in our lane around the turn but instead of making the turn it kept going and crashed into a light pull about 20 yards in front of us and came to a stop side by side with us! by that time we had pulled over to the other side and stopped to see what just happened. I honestly feel like if we hadnt stopped to ask that man something the car would have hit us right at the turn. I feel the Lords hand so much in the work but never that much in protecting me. but now with this experience and the experience of falling of the balcony. I know that he is protecting his servants. I am so gratefull for the Holy Ghost and also the Lords Hand in all things.

So that was basically the week all wrapped up in one day! the area is good and growing from the little drop off that we had. I hope to see it come back to what it was with some more added! It will be great we will just see what this transfer and next transfer have in store! i love you so much! have a great week and be safe. Drive safe and dont text and drive and always wear a seat belt i believe that is what saved the two people today! Especially this holiday season. i want to see you when i get home! I love you!!

Love

Elder Nathanial Woodruff!

Monday Message: October 27, 2014

So this week has been a long week. Both Elder Mitchell and myself have been sick and dont have any idea what it is! we are also left without a phone at the moment because ours broke yesterday afternoon! We worked as hard as we could this week but we were so tired and sick that things didnt feel as good as they could have been. Even though we were sick i believe that we had a good week and it ended up better than we had expected it to be! I still love it here in New Amsterdam and the people are so amazing! The struggle that we are having though is our church attendance. many of the members have been offended in the past couple of weeks over different callings! Things that can be resolved though. It will just take effort and their cooperation in listening and understanding the Gospel and the reason we have callings in the church! We know that God is a God of Order and so we have callings, President Kirton understands that so he has been filling up all the callings in the branch but the members havent quite understood that and got Offended when they were released! I believe things will pick up soon and we will begin to see the members come back and the attendance increase! i just want to see it like it was when i got here in june with 70 + members again! it has so much potential here we just have to find out how to bring it out and help the branch become self reliant on the things that run the church organization!

So other than that this week has been ok. i got an email back from pres. Mehr about shivanie being baptized he said not to worry about it to much it was a small mistake! and just to help the family understand about moromni 8 and how she can be rebaptized in a year when she is 8 years old! he was really helpful about it and made me feel a lot better about the situation. it relieved a lot of stress from my shoulders! 

I hope that this week goes a lot better and that things will begin to speed up again! i am thankful for all of the support! oh and thanks for all the hunting pictures! they made me trunky but also happy to see all the fun pictures there was! i love you so much!

Love

Elder Woodruff

Monday Message: October 20, 2014

So this week has been a decent week! We had a lot of road blocks in the way though! and many things that could have worked out a little differently but that is just how it had to happen! I am working really hard to build back up the area to how it was. Its not as easy as i thought though i am working as hard as possible to be A+ obedient and i just hope that i will be able to be the example to Elder Mitchell as well! I believe if we can do that the area will grow and prosper once again just like the Book of Mormon Promises us! If we keep the commandments we will prosper and i know that the white handbook is commandments that i must live right now for the two years! I am upset and feel horrible about a huge mistake that i made this transfer that is a disgrace before God and i know i should have been more careful! but i made the mistake when i Baptized Shivanie Herecharran and i didnt look at the birthday and it didnt even cross my mind to check it. turns out that she was born in 2007 which means she is only 7 years old! I have had this weight on my shoulder ever since i found out and i cant get rid of it! i feel like i have not only disappointed everyone here but also the Lord! i have prayed so hard to gain a forgiveness but i dont know what to do! i know it is not a good thing that i allowed to happen! What should i do?
So i want to tell you what i have learned about and from the Book of Mormon. This past couple of transfers that i have been reading it again i have gotten so much out of it. i also cant wait to read it from the beginning again this transfer. The Book of Mormon is a powerful tool. just like we are taught. lately i have seen so many people begin to change as the read it, it also is so powerful that if we can only get the people to read it it solves all the contention and bible bashing that people come at us with! i even have had the chance lately to see how it will work with one of our investigators who is from nigeria! he told us it would be great if we could get it in his language IGBO. i thought to my self we will never find it but it turns out that the church has that language i cant wait to get it to him because i know that his life will change because of this book! i have also seen such a big change in my life. i have found so much comfort from the words in alma about the Plan of Salvation as well as the many parts that we can see the christlike attributes! i love to study about how christ was and is! i cant lie the Book of Mormon is great at chastising you as well. i have found many things that i must work on in my life because of the way i feel reading the Book. as well as the faults it points out to me, but my attention is always brought back to what moroni said in moroni 10:32 that we can come unto christ and be perfected in him. we will never be perfect before but only through christ can we be perfected! I have found the way to find true happiness in this life and what i must do to reach it! its not in the world in money or fame or power ,but it is in Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Eternal Life is promised to those who follow christ and keep his commandments. He is on our side, but so many people are left out because they havent learned about the Book of Mormon. That is my Job and i want to fill it to the best that i can! That is why i am here because of the Book of Mormon and that is What i want to share with others! This book changes lives it has mine and i know many others! i love this book!
I will be in guyana for another 6 weeks which will bring me close to 6 months in the country! crazy huh! i will be close to christmas as well. things are coming up fast i hit the 13 months this week and keep going from there! i hope things can be good this transfer and that we see success once again! i love you so much and hope that you have a great week! till next week
Love
Elder Woodruff!

Monday Message: October 13, 2014

So this week has been a good, but long week! it started off really well and we had some great success. then in the middle of the week it slowed down and i think it picked back up again! I dont really want to admit it but i think i let myself fall into the hump day slump haha! i have caught my self though and realize that the work isnt as fun or easy in that matter if things are going slow at the apartment! it has been hard to wake up and excersize when no one is pushing you and they want to sleep all the time. i need a work out partner to be pushed. and because of that i feel that my studies havent been what they use to be but i am working hard and bringing them back to what they were and even better! so i will get out of this slump and have the joy once again!

So yesterday we had a good experience and an experience that really had to test my patience! So at church we are really working hard for Real Growth in the branch and have been working with a lot of Less Actives and they all were doing really good and we did all we could to get them excited for church and thought they were coming and none came! we also did the same with our progressing investigators and still nothing! i was so upset we only had 43 people attend yesterday! That is no where close to the 100 that pres. kirton has set for the branch! we are working so hard with him to get that but it is struggling right now! But we have faith and i believe it will reach that goal! The other struggle is that we tried to have a meeting with the leaders of the branch to set up a branch mission plan and put it into play, but everytime we tried they turned it on us as missionaries saying that we havent done our part to allow them to do their! im sorry to say but maybe i wasnt in the best mood and it made me upset to see them blame it on us that the less actives werent coming. and also that they werent fellowshipping because we didnt introduce them! i think i held it in and we worked it out the best we could without being overbearing. and took the blame but the hour that we were there we only got to goals and the members were talking bad behind the others backs so we just stopped the meeting and we as missionaries plan to work with president kirton on the goals and actions and then present it to them at the branch counsel! But on a spiritual note! we had a great experience last night as well. we finished a lesson a half hour early and had no where to go but we felt impressed to stop by Pres. kirtons home and when we got there he sent us to the bhola family and said his wife and daughter were already there but they needed our help. When we got there we found out that there had been an argument between the parents and one of the daughters who is seventeen! it was over texting and talking on the phone to much to a boy from georgetown and she wasnt getting anything done!( Sounds like me back in the day huh!) It went to the point that this girl felt all alone and didnt want to be apart of this world anymore. When we got there Sis. kirton was talking to both and asked if we could help. but of course we are only 19 and 20 and have no idea what it is like to be a parent but we do know what it is like to be a teenager. All that we could do and that we were impressed to do was say a prayer, and then we sang "I am a child of God". That brought the spirit so much and tears to my eyes. our main goal was to help the daughter know that our Heavenly Father loves her and the he parents were trying to help. we also took what sis kirton was saying and helped the mother know how the youth feel. i believe that it was a starting point for them to solve the problem and i am so grateful that the spirit lead me there to experience that opportunity!

So that is my crazy day yesterday! also we met a man from nigeria this week and he is awesome i have pictures that i am sending home he is the black man in the white shirt with us! his accent is awesome and his name is Chideny but we call him Chidi( Like Chidi Chidi Bang Bang haha!) we are teaching him and really see potential with him! he is a catholic but super smart he is a science lecturure in the college here! so smart! I hope that your week goes great and that you have a safe week as well! hope to hear back from you soon! i love you!!!

Love

Elder Woodruff!