Anadarko, Oklahoma -August 25, 2014

Hey!

Well things sound like they are finally starting to go better now that school has started again.  Well for mom and dad they are probably going better.  It is crazy to think how old everyone is getting.  The day might actually come that there won't be anyone living at home with mom and dad.  What would you guys do with all those bedrooms then?  Notice that I did use the word might.  

It is good to hear that Zander and Ian have been getting along so well.  I think that Ian is going to be a really good missionary.  He will probably end up learning another language.  I decided last night that when I get home Ian and Rolando are going to become my new companions and I am going to study with them every morning and help them prepared to serve missions.  I will make sure that they know what the 8 Fundementals of Preach My Gospel are, and all of the other fun stuff you learn as a missionary!  They will be pros before they even leave.  I wonder what they are going to think about that.  

Well I guess since mom is dying to know about what I have been doing this entire past week I can tell you guys.  Last week was a really diferent week for us.  We had a lot harder week then we have had in the past.  It wasn't harder as in Elder Tanner and I got in an argument, or we weren't able to get out and work due to sickness.  Satan was just working really hard this past week to stop the work.  Although Satan was working hard to get the work to stop we still had a good week.  We saw a lot of miracles.  

On Wednesday we were having a not so great day, but we kept working hard and it paid off at the end of the day.  To finish off the day we decided to go visit Alfredo, an investigator that we hadn't been able to see in a couple of weeks.  We got out to Alfredo's house and he was actually there this time!  I was pretty excited about that because we were able to teach him a lesson.  Alfredo is such an awesome kid and all of the lessons that we have had have been very spiritual.  So on Wednesday evening we read through 2 Nephi 31 and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Like always we had a great lesson and Alfredo committed to keep reading the Book of Mormon and we set a baptismal date with him for September 21st.  

Friday was a significantly better day for us as well.  We had exchanges with the other Elders here in the branch.  There always seems to be a lot of miracles when we go on exchanges and Friday was no different.  We had an appointment with a potential investigator, Dayton.  So going back a week earlier to August 15th we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders which is when we found Dayton.  So we got to Dayton's home and he invited us inside.  Just before we started the lesson I felt prompted to ask Dayton to invite his wife to come in and be there for the lesson and he did.  We taught Dayton and Veeda about the Restoration of the Gospel.  Both Dayton and Veeda were very open and were really interested in the lesson because they had both wondered why there were so many churches on the earth, along with a whole lot of other questions that the church has answers to.  Dayton and Veeda both committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they committed to be baptized on October 19th.  I always love getting to go teach someone about the Restoration and invite them to be baptized, so this visit was no different!  =D  That was another miracle that we were able to be a part of last week.  

Well I think that is about all for this week!  Tell the kids to be good and do their homework.  Thanks for keeping me in your prayers.  It really does help.  I love you guys!

Love Elder Woodward

Anadarko, Oklahoma -August 18, 2014

Hey!

So where to even start?  So I guess just like every other week there was a whole lot of stuff that happened, but also like every other week by the time Monday comes around I can hardly remember what we did yesterday.  I will try my best to fill you in on the entire last week, but it might not be very good.  

Last week one of the miracles that Elder Tanner and I saw were with two different people.  One of them was an investigator, Ray, and the other was with a potential investigator, Elaura.  We had been trying to have a lesson with both of them for a couple of weeks now, but we were having no success in contacting either of these people so we were about ready to drop both of them if we didn't get in contact with them that day.  We went over and tried to see Ray first, and he was there sitting on his front porch just like he was the first day we met him!  He said he was busy that day and that we couldn't talk to his right then, but as we were walking away he yelled at us and told us that he really liked the "native" aspect to the gospel, and that he wanted us to come back over with a member of the church that he had met.  Then right after Ray we walked down the street to Elaura's home and knocked on her door.  She opened the door!  The other times that she had talked to us she would just tell us it wasn't a good time and to come back later, but that day she talked to us more and told us that she was sorry that we kept missing her at home, but that she really did want to come up to church with us and meet with us to find out more about the church.  So all of that turned out really well! 

One of the other cool things that we saw last week was with a less active member.  So I don't know if I told you about this last week, but we ran into a less active member of the church here in Anadarko a couple weeks ago while we were in pizza hut one evening.  This less active, Andrea, moved down here to Anadarko from Woodward last December time.  Well at first thought, I didn't think that I knew who Andrea was because I had never met her before and I didn't recognize her name, but after talking with her and getting to know her better, I figured out the she is the same Andrea that Elder Birch and I spent so many hours trying to find (on top of all the time the Egnews spent trying to find her).  Who would have ever thought that we would have finally found her 8 month after I left Woodward in a small town in the middle of no where.  It is really crazy how it all worked out and I can say that I know it was the Lord that provided a way for us to finally find her.  

Well thanks for everything that you guys do for me!  Have a great week everyone!

Love Elder Woodward

Andarko, Oklahoma -August 11, 2014

Hey!

We were able to spend a lot more time out working last week since both of the rashes that we had are gone.  Last week we had the American Indian Expo here in Anadarko.  I called it an expo because that is technically what it is, but it was very similar to the Cache Valley Fair, it was focused more towards the American Indians though.  The Senior couple here talked to whoever was in charge of it and were able to arrange for us to have a booth at the expo, so we got to spend a couple of hours each day working at the booth.  We had a lot of success come from it and we were able to contact a couple of people who seemed really interested in learning more about the church.  We had a lot more success with people who were visiting and live somewhere else, but there were still a lot of people from Anadarko.  So we should be able to get a couple of new investigators from the booth.  Over the four days that the expo was going we (mostly Elder Philbrick) gave out somewhere around 300 copies of the Book of Mormon.  So it did turn out to be very successful.

We did spend a lot of our time away from the booth and got to go visit a couple of our investigators as well.  We still haven't been able to go and see Sarah since she came to church several weeks ago.  We are still going out to try and visit her since she still has a baptismal date for the 31st, but we haven't been able to make contact with her.  She has been really busy the past couple of weeks, but we are determined to visit with her again!  We were able to have a lesson with Trevor and his Sister last week.  I probably haven't told you much about Trevor yet.  So Trevor has been meeting with the missionaries for 4 or 5 months now and taking the discussions.  Right about the time that I got here to Anadarko Trevor's sister, Tillie, came up from Florida to visit.  Just before Tillie came up here she was meeting with missionaries there and got baptized.  Trevor and Tillie didn't know that the other were meeting with the missionaries until after Tillie was baptized.  Anyways, so when Tillie came to visit, which was right when I got here, Trevor decided that he was going to go back to Florida with his sister to get away from the negative influences he had here.  That is probably why I haven't told you about Trevor yet. So after a short time, Tillie decided that she was going to move back here to Oklahoma, and so Trevor came back with her so we started to teach Trevor again.  Last week we had a really good lesson with Trevor and Tillie about the Priesthood and why we need the Priesthood on the earth.  We taught this lesson using the Gospel Principles manual, which actually turned out to be very good for both Trevor and Tillie.

One of the other cool miracle that we saw this past week was with a less active member that we met when we went to eat at Pizza Hut a couple weeks ago.  So as it turns out this less active, Andrea, is actually a less active that lived up in the Woodward Branch while I was serving up there.  I don't remember ever actually meeting her while I was up there.  Andrea ended up moving down here to Anadarko last December which nobody knew about because her records weren't moved here.  We went over and visited with her and she was very open and she told us that she really wanted to start going back to church.  It was really cool to run into her and have some common things to talk about.

I hope that you all have a great week!  Talk to you guys soon!

Love Elder Woodward

Anadarko, Oklahoma -August 4, 2014

Hey!

It sounds like things have been going good for everyone back home!  It is good to hear that Darcy's ankle is doing better and that she will be able to help kick some Sparta butt this week!  

Things here in Anadarko have been going pretty well for us.  The work continues to roll forward, and we are seeing a lot of miracles every day.  Missionary work is a whole lot of fun!  I love being able to be out here in Oklahoma to do the Lord's work.

This past past week brought with it a whole bunch of different things.  Durning the week it felt like things were going super slow, but now as I look back at our week I can see it went by really fast.  Our week was filled with a whole bunch of different things, but the were all good and all a lot of fun!

So one of the most exciting things from last week was when we got to go up to the Oklahoma City Temple with the rest of our Zone.  It is always a lot of fun going up to the temple.  We went up to the Temple last Wednesday.  Not a whole lot more that I can say about that.  I can say that it was great to get to go to the House of the Lord and spend time inside the Temple and have questions that I have had answered.  It was great!  After we got finished in the Temple we went right across the street to the church building there to have our Specialized Training for our Zone.  The Zone Leaders had another awesome training prepared for us.  Last month out STM was about ABC, or Attitude, Believe, and Courage.  That training was all about changing ourselves and our areas into what the Lord wants us to be and what our areas should be.  This month the STM was about Anchoring ourselves in Christ and trusting in Him.  For this training the Zone Leaders made it 1 2 3.  Get it?  ABC easy as 1 2 3.  Thank you Jackson 5 for providing our trainings for us........  We have been really focusing on changing ourselves so that we can become the person the Lord wants us to be.  

So I guess so you already brought up homecoming talks I'm ok with whatever day they want me to speak.  I figure whichever day it is I speak I will probably wait until the day before to prepare.  That part of me still hasn't changed.  Just let me know what the plan is.  

Well thanks for everything!  You are all great!

Love, Elder Woodward