Mustang, Oklahoma -April 28, 2014

Hey!

For the most part life has been treating me pretty well.  I have been managing to deal with life and all of the good things that come with it.  I have also been having to deal with all of the crap that comes with life as well.  We found out last night all about transfers and what will be happening for the next six weeks of my life.  There really isn't much to tell you about since nothing is changing at all.  Yep that means that I will be here in Mustang for another six weeks with Elder Faulkner, Elder Bolan, and Elder Garner.  In case you couldn't tell I was really hoping something would be changing with this transfer.  

So now onto something that is actually good news.  Lois got baptized on Saturday!  Everything fell into place just like the pieces of a puzzle.  We finished teaching her all of the commandments last Thursday.  We finished all of the lessons just in time for her to be interviewed for her baptism on Friday evening, then she was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.  We had already known for a while that she wanted Brother Ridley to baptize her, and that she wanted the four missionaries in our ward to stand in the circle when she was confirmed.  I wasn't really sure who would be doing the confirmation, but I thought it would just be Brother Ridley as well since he was baptizing her.  So on Tuesday evening we had a lesson with her and we were starting to figure out everything for the baptism.  I don't know exactly at which point it came up, but Sister Ridley asked me if I knew Lois wanted me to be the one who confirmed her.  I was so shocked that she wanted me to be the one who confirmed her.  It was a really humbling experience for her to have asked me to do this.  So yesterday I got to confirm Lois a member of the church.  It was a really cool experience.  The baptism on Saturday went really well.  We had 12 missionaries there to support her, which I thought was really cool because I got to see how many missionaries she had touched over the past couple of years.  She was so ready to be baptized though.  I don't think there was anything that would have stopped her from showing up to her baptism.  

So this past week I got to go on exchanges with a couple of exchanges with other missionaries.  Last Wednesday I went with Elder Hightower to Mustang 2nd ward and got to spend the day on my bike.  I was really glad that I had started to use my bike again before I went on that exchange or I think I probably would have died.  We had a pretty good day biking all over Mustang talking with people.  On Wednesday evening we went to help with their mutual activity which was a highway cleanup, so for the rest of the night we got to walk down the highway and pick up garbage.  It was actually pretty fun.  You would be surprised at all the random stuff you find that isn't trash.  I ended up being a good night and we got a lot of trash picked up.  The other exchange that I got to go on was with one of the Zone leaders.  Since I am the DL and I taught Lois I couldn't do her baptismal interview, so Elder Peterson came out here with me for the day.  We spent the day out on bikes since it wasn't our day to use the car.  The worst part about biking in Oklahoma is the wind.  There may not be hills to bike up, but there is wind to bike against which in some cases is worse then a hill.  But we ended up having a good day and getting a lot done.  We found a new potential investigator who we are going to go and see this evening.  So there are a lot of exciting things happening right now.  That is one reason that I am excited to get to stay for another transfer.  

Well that is all for this week.  I guess I will get to call home in a couple of weeks for Mothers Day.  Actually this time we are allowed to Skype home, so that is probably what I will end up doing.  So in a sense I will see you in a couple of weeks as well.  Thank you all for everything that you do for me!  I love you all! 

Love Elder Woodward

Mustang, Oklahoma -April 21, 2014

Hey!

Well things sure have been going well for us this past week.  We had seven long days to get out and work and we managed to get a lot done in that time.  It sounds like everything has been going a lot better at home over the past couple of weeks.  It must be really nice to have some peace and quiet.  Of course there is always something to say and do with soccer.  The is the basis and one of the fundamental units of living in the Woodward family.  Everything else revolves around soccer.  Maybe what Dad can start to do is take the power cord to the tv and not give it back until everyone practices soccer for and hour a day.  That would probably help Zander improve his soccer skills.  And if any of the kids come and tell you that is a bad idea to take the cord away, you can blame it on me.  There isn't a whole lot that they could do to me right now.  

This past week turned out to be a pretty good one for Elder Faulkner and me.  We were really excited about last week and how everything went.  Lois is still doing really well.  She was at church yesterday and we were able to have three lessons with her last week to help her get ready for her baptism.  We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of wisdom. the law of chastity, and tithing and fast offerings.  It sounds like we gave her a lot of new stuff to learn and think about, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds because Lois had already taken all of those pamphlets from work and read through all of them, so we really just went through and reviewed them to make sure she didn't have any questions.  She didn't have any questions or concerns with any of these things so it was really easy for her to commit to do all of these commandments.  She came to church yesterday as well and enjoyed the Easter Sunday.  Things are starting to get into full swing as we continue to prepare for her baptism this coming weekend.  Lois is still really excited for this weekend and can't wait for Saturday.  It is really weird to think that it has been over three weeks since we first started to teach her, and now we are almost to her baptism.  Today while we were at the laundromat we talked to Lois about the baptismal program and about who she would like to do everything.  So next week we will have a lot of exciting news to tell you about.  And yes Mom, I will be sure to send you a picture of everyone at the baptism since you have been eagerly awaiting more pictures.

So even though we were able to meet with Lois so much this past week we were still able to go and visit a lot of other people.  We had another lesson with Jeff.  We were able to talk to him a lot more about the priesthood and help him understand the importance of the priesthood.  We haven't been able to see him at church yet because he leaves town every weekend to go visit his family. So he is never here on Sunday and that makes it hard.  He is really close to knowing that the church is true.  So we are going to keep working with him to help him get ready to be baptized as soon as he starts coming to church.

Things are still going really well for me.  I am still alive and surviving out here in Oklahoma.  I got the Easter package that you had sent out for me.  I have no idea what I am supposed to do with all of that candy though.  I guess at some point I will have it all gone.  Thank you so much for the package though.  It was very much appreciated!  I will let you know if there is anything else that I need here in the future.  Thank you again for everything!  You guys are great!  

Love Elder Woodward

Mustang, Oklahoma -April 14, 2014

Hey!

So as far as things went this past week for missionary work here in Mustang, overall things went well.  About halfway through the week we found out that our investigator Louis did end up watching a some of General Conference last week so we were able to pick her baptismal date back up for April 26th.  Elder Faulkner and I were both really excited about that!  So then this past week we were able to have another lesson with Louis and teach her about the Plan of Salvation.  She was at her house ready for the lesson by the time we got there and she enjoyed the entire lesson.  She has been really prepared to get baptized.  So as you may have figured out by now, I wouldn't have told you that we were able to continue planning for her to be baptized on the 26th unless she came to church yesterday.  So yes Louis was able to make it to church for Fast and Testimony meeting.  It was really exciting to see her there and to not have to worry about rescheduling her baptismal date.  So that was our miracle for the week.

Another cool thing that happened for us this past week took place last night.  It was a really windy day and so Elder Faulkner and I weren't really in the mood to ride our bikes into 30- 40 mph winds, so we decided to walk to get over to our area.  As we were walking past a Pentecostal church I happened to see out of the corner of my eye that someone was waving at us.  So I looked over to see who it was and it was one of our potential investigators, Kristen.  We waved back and then went over to talk to her.  We found out that the church we were walking past happened to be the church she went to, so she invited us to come in and meet her Pastor.  At first I was a little worried about what would happen, but we went in and met her Pastor.  He was actually a really nice guy.  He invited us to come to church with them sometime and asked us for our number so that he could meet us sometime.  So it turned out to be a pretty cool way that we were able to contact Kristen and talk to her again.

So something new that I learned this past week.  If you happen to get sunscreen on your white dress shirt, when it comes time to wash it it will come out with an ugly yellowish-green stain.  Hopefully it won't be too hard to get the new coloring out of them.  

Thank you for everything!  I am really looking forward to this Easter package!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  I love you guys!

Love Elder Cameron Woodward

Mustang, Oklahoma -April 7, 2014

Hello!

For the record I would like to let everyone know that I am NOT a slacker.  I clearly remember that I told you about Elder Bolan when I called home on Christmas day.  So don't be calling me a slacker because you forgot that I already told you that I was with Elder Bolan.  I also was not even aware that we were supposed to be guessing who was writing the emails. So to re-emphasize what was said in conference yesterday by Elder Ballard and the things that he learned from his mission, and to share something I have learned, it is VERY important to be clear and simple when you are inviting someone to do something.  For example, when you are telling your son to guess who has been writing the emails.  So you need to be sure from now on that your invitations are clear and direct.  And yes I will be following up with you next week to see how you are doing.  In answer to your question, I'm going to say that it was dad. 

So now for things that have happened here in Oklahoma from the date of March 31st to April 6.  For starters Elder Faulkner and I have managed to keep our running streak of having 0 investigators at sacrament meeting.  After much review, we have now been able to more accurately convey the true running total.  It has now been more then 21 weeks since our area has had an investigator at sacrament meeting.  It is getting really frustrating that no one will come to sacrament.  Enough of that though.

This past week was a really slow one for us over here in our area.  We did have a bright spark of hope come to us this week as we were finally able to get a new investigator this week.  Her name is Louis.  So Louis works at the laundromat where we do our laundry every week.  A member of our ward also happens to own this laundromat, so Louis has had a lot of contact with missionaries for the four years she has worked there, and has also had a lot of contact with members of the church.  This past week was when she decided that she wanted to join the church and take the missionary discussions.  So on Friday after our District Meeting we went over with Sister Ridley (she owns the Laundromat) and started teaching Louis.  We had a really good lesson with her and we even committed her to be baptized.  Unfortunately though because of the excitement that we had, we wanted to commit her to be baptized before this transfer was over, so we set the date for April 26th, so she would have had to watch a session of conference and come to church every week before she could get baptized.  The unfortunate part came because as far as we are aware, she didn't watch any of conference.  So we now have to reschedule her baptismal date for another day.  It was still really good to have been able to start teaching Louis and help her prepare to get baptized.  

I really enjoyed conference this time!  There was so much that was talked about and so many good talks.  I don't know which one was my favorite.  They were all just so good!  Who would have ever thought that I would enjoy sitting and watching 10 hours of tv.  It was great though!

Well that is about all for me this week.  I hope that you all have a good week!  

Love Elder Woodward