Week 80 - Aruba

First before anything....WELCOME TO THE WORLD MY NEW LITTLE NEPHEW BRIGHAM JENSEN!!! We have all been waiting for you for far too long! Congrats Brittney!!

Also,  well, happiest of anniversaries to Chase and Kim!!

Anywho.... we had another pretty average missionary week! Nothing crazy! We taught Michael about the first vision and a modern day prophet and once again he was just LOVING it. SO much. He was soooo excited about the whole thing. It was so funny, he asked us during the lesson, "wait, do we have a prophet today?" and we said "yes!" and he said "no but like today in our day." and we said "yes!" and then for a third time he said "no like TODAY!" and we said "YES!" and said "REALLY??" with the biggest smile on his face. it was awesome. he loves the idea of having a living prophet. he's doing great, just very very busy so its hard to see him even just once a week!

We also taught Nieves and her relative Veronica the first vision and it was SO SPIRITUAL. They are just so believing. They understand PERFECTLY and they feel like Joseph Smith would have had to be a prophet because Jesus Christ had to restore the church through someone! I love them.

We had an awesome lesson with Jairo last night! Oh my heck! We weren't able to see him for over a week because of problems on our part like a popped tire and all that fun stuff, and he doesn't have a phone so we had no idea how to communicate with him! Well, we passed by last night and had an awesome lesson.  He says he believes the BoM to be true scripture and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Then we felt prompted to invite him to be baptized and he was totally on board! He is on date for October 20th!  Baptisms haven't been happening too terribly much in the islands and we don't really know why, all we know is that we are super duper excited for this one!

Unfortunately for me, i will not be at Jairo's baptism in October because I GO HOME THIS WEEK!  On Thursday!  I cannot believe my mission has come to an end. It has absolutely FLOWN by.  I will be leaving a big part of my heart here with all of these wonderful people. I am going home a new person and I am just so grateful God sent me out on my mission so i could really get my act together and my testimony growing. We will be finishing the BoM this week as well!  I have been loving it and i hope all of you have been loving it as well! 

I will see you in a few days!

Big hugs!

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

Week 79 - Aruba

That's 79 of 80!!! (Can you tell this father is excited?)

Thanks for reading!  Allie will be home in TEN days (September 20th!  She'll be speaking in church at 12:30 pm on Sunday, the 23rd, and she'd LOVE for all her friends to be there to hear her report!  Please join us!  The address is: 2955 E Frye Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85040.  EVERYONE is welcome!

HELLOOOO!!! :)

This week was actually pretty normal! No surprises! Before I get started though.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Anyway.......... WOW! We have some awesome investigators! Super awesome! Lets see how many I will have time to write about.....

First we have Michael. MICHAEL IS SOOOO COOOOOL!!!!!!!! that sounds like the exact way I started talking about him last week, but seriously. This guy... We taught him about Jesus Christ's original church last lesson and he was LOVING it. He said "there just isn't a church like that today!"  He just understands so darn well. Its CRAZY.  He has soooo much potential!  He has just been waiting for this message for so long and we finally found him!

Then there is Jonathan. He is awesome too.  SO many awesome people.  We had a lesson with him more about the restoration and Christ's church and all that, and he had a friend over who sat with us! HE was literally teaching her everything. We would explain and then he would reexplain just to make sure she got it and he would teach her perfectly.  It was awesome.  He has a lot of potential as well and he is just really open to learn!

Leo (pic attached) is doing well, he is just very hard to see!  We taught him the BoM and he loved it! Hopefully he will actually read it... that is the problem we have with many people hahahaha.

Jairo and Nieves are doing awesome as well! They accepted the BoM with a big smile and they are both really just open and understanding!  We are hoping to get these people to church!!

Donny!!!!!!!!!!!! HE SURPRISED US BIGGGG TIME. We had previously tried to teach just the beginning portion of the restoration several times and it just wasn't quite reaching him, so we decided to just teach him the first vision and then drop him.  WELL... We taught it to him along with Jesus Christ's church, and it just totally clicked. He realized how important it would be and what it would mean if there was a prophet on the earth, and that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. He just got it. Like a little light switched on in his mind. We are hoping he is now open to the Holy Ghost to receive his answer about whether or not he was a prophet! That was a really big spiritual experience for me! So awesome! The message of the restoration just makes sense and it can change lives! I know its true!

Church yesterday was awesome as well! Lots of great talks! Marlien (my Surinamese convert from a year ago) spoke and did AWESOME! She has been busy busy in the church! Teaching relief society and now has a new calling in the YW! She is cleaning the church building and doing all sorts of stuff! Makes my heart sing! :)

THE BOOK OF MORMON CHALLENGE! Sorry about the confusion this last week! It was just a big mix up haha! Hopefully you are all still caught up and its changing your heart more and more everyday!  Well, that is actually all I have for you all this week! Have a wonderful week and keep reading the Book Of Mormon! :)

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

Week 78 - Aruba

Helloooo!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great week over here, as usual!  Filled of fun and preaching and meetings!  Most of the lessons we had were over three days because we had lots of meetings and stuff that needed to get done!  I'll go backwards...it's easier to remember that way hahaha..  Sooo today was so fun!  We had a district activity where we went on a half day island tour!  We went to a lot of the same sights that I went to at the beginning of my mission when I was a little awkward and trying to figure out my new surroundings, but this tour was a lot more organized and I was able to enjoy it a lot more!  The Thackery's (senior missionary couple) usually serve in Guyana but they were here for a week helping with some things here.

Sunday was great! Lots of meetings and a good branch council. The branch is really whipping itself back into shape! It got a little rough there for a while, but prayer really works and its doing so much better! Not 100% but with a little more effort and prayers they are going to be back stronger than ever! After Branch council yesterday we went out teaching with a member named Victor who is the 2nd councilor in the branch presidency.  We went and taught Gyro  (i dont know what i have mentioned about him but he is Margarita's friend) and it was awesome! Victor is such a great teacher and such a great support for Gyro! We taught the first vision and it was very spiritual! Gyro understands everything really well! Now he has a friend in the church as well as a support system! WOOHOO!  We love teaching when members come along!

Saturday was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! President Nelson felt inspired a week and a half ago to go to the Dominican Republic and do a broadcast for the Caribbean saints. He did a broadcast in the morning for ALL of the missionaries and it was SO fun! A ton of people spoke. Elder and Sister Alfonso couple, Elder and Sister Gonzales, the MTC president and his wife, the Renlunds, two others.  Then President Nelson spoke!  He gave an apostolic blessing to all of the missionaries and tagain in the  later address to all of the Caribbean members. He spoke some VERY inspired words and It was wonderful!  Then in the later one for the members he spoke SPANISH!  He gave his talk in Spanish! Soooo crazy! He did a great job and was simply adorable.

Other than that our week was pretty occupied by the same old same old.  We are teaching a man named Juancarlos who is AWESOME!!! Basically our whole contact area is just GREAT!  We are loving it. Every time we ask a member to come with us they are terrified because its not the safest area...sooo funny.  One member said she was scared to leave her car!!  But we haven't ever been in any danger and the only people who say we shouldn't be there are the members..  Somebody did get shot there a couple of nights ago though... i promise we will be careful and listen to the Spirit!   Crazy....missionary life!

Anywayyyyy....... This week I wanted to share a testimony building experience.  We were teaching this sweet elderly man of another faith and he basically just asked us a series of questions about why we don't do certain things in our church. Why we don't memorize and repeat prayers, why we don't pray to the Virgin Mary, etc.  And I just kept repeating "because that's not taught in the bible." During that lesson it occurred to me how real the apostasy was. People have filled churches with man-made doctrine and it is just heart breaking! There are so many people who are true seekers of Christ but they are just so blinded by doctrine taught by man. I  am sooo grateful for living prophets and for the revelations they have received. There just isn't anything in the scriptures that is contrary to what we live and practice. The world is still in apostasy and that is why we are here! To proclaim the truth! To help get people out of the deep, deep effects of the apostasy! I love the gospel so much.

We also are teaching this new investigator named Michael! MICHAEL IS SOOOO COOL! He literally says the doctrine before we even teach anything. We were teaching him about how prophets receive power and authority from God, and then he jumped in and started talking about how there is no way all churches have that. He said he has always wanted to talk to pastors about this but they always get mad at him so he can't. He went on for a good five minutes talking about how there are just so many churches and he just doesn't think they are all of God. It doesn't make sense to him. He doesn't trust pastors anymore because all they do is go to school and "become" pastors and priests. He says they can't be called of God.  He just went off about all of this craziness for like 5 minutes at least and we just sat there with our jaws dropped.  Insane. He is soooo cool. 

I hope you are all doing well with your Book Of Mormon challenge! My love for that book grows so much faster when I am doing challenges so this is really helping me! I have LOVED this challenge SO much!  PLEASE KEEP GOING!!!! 

Well, that is all i have for all of you this week, I hope you all have a great week! Big Hugs! 

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

Week 77 - Aruba

Hello Everyone!

I cannot believe I will only be sending home 3 more letters after this. SO CRAZY. i cant believe it!!! XP so surreal.  Am i ready to go home?  Heck no!  But i am excited to see my wonderful family who i just love oh so much.

Well, this week was great! what even happened.... uhmmmm....

My area is doing great! We have somehow managed to get a good number of contacts even though we have been teaching sooo many people!  We are still really working on "filling the pipeline", as President Baird says.  We are working on improving planning because we have a lot going on so we have to plan very effectively to make everything work. We have this thing in our apartment called the "lamchi list" which is just a list of all of the investigators that we have talked with, with their numbers, and we have been calling everyone every time we get the chance! That has really been helping us follow up! We are working very hard and we are trying to be as diligent as possible, working through every yawn we have haha!

Amanda dropped us!  It was sad honestly because she said we bring her so much peace into her depressed life. Anyway, on our way out she asked if we could come and do service for her so we did. Then she asked if we could come next week and have a mini lesson before and then do service after.  She doesn't want to let go!  That must be the spirit. Pray for her!

We had 6 new investigators! we don't know what to do with all of these people! We had FIVE in one day! And they are all pretty cool! Craziness!  We are working hard though!  Thats a FACT!  We are teaching Juancarlos!  He was one of the contacts that we made when we made a ton one Sunday evening.  HE IS SUPER COOL and soooo sincere!  He is brand new so we will see where that goes, but i am excited! 

I went on exchanges with sister Garcia and it was so awesome! She is a great sister and I really love her. It was fun being with her again :)

During exchanges we actually had a really cool experience. We ran into a really old investigator named Argenis that we both used to teach! bHe used to come to church all the time and he was just really cool!  Well, he kind of disappeared for a really long time and we all just assumed he moved or got deported or something. Turns out he was still here and he was even living in the same place!  We reconnected with him and invited him to come to church that Sunday (we saw him on Tuesday night), and he actually came!  God places us in the path of those who are searching!  I know that if we follow the spirit we really will be able to meet those who need God most in this time in their lives.  God is good and I love Him so much!

I had lots of others things i wanted to talk about but there just isn't enough time! I hope you all have a wonderful week! KEEP GOING IN THE BOM CHALLENGE! I just found out that i forgot to put September 5th on the schedule so you all have an extra day to catch up if you are behind! Have a wonderful week!

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

PS, Me taking a selfie with the old ac unit i wrote a note on with the dust for a contact who wasn't home!  :)

Week 76 - Aruba

Hola!! Bon dia tur hende (good morning everyone)!!!

We had a wonderful week here in Aruba, like always. We had lots going on and we have been BUSY. We currently have 20 investigators which is A LOT, especially for this area. Because of that we have been SUPER busy and booked everyday. Luckily we are still managing to find time to contact, One day this week we had EIGHT lessons. It was nuts. And we weren't late for a single one! God is really blessing us and we are just doing our best to follow His will!

Anyway....... I'll start from the beginning... We had Zone Conference this week! My very last one before I go home! :( I cannot believe I go home in 1 MONTH from today. Sooo surreal to me.  At zone conference I taught, sung with the sisters, and gave my departing testimony! Here on the islands the "zone" conferences are more like district conferences so everyone gets to participate a LOT. Its so fun! It was a wonderful "Zone" Conference. I know i am repeating myself but I. LOVE. THE. BAIRDS. SOOOO. MUCH. Oh my goodness. They are SO good for the members here too!!! They will be having us working a lot more with them! We are now allowed to go to one activity a week with them which I feel like is going to help a TON! He also says it doesn't matter what language is being spoken!  Before it was strongly suggested that everyone in the branch needs to speak only Papiamento.  But, not everyone can speak it!  Especially those who don't have their papers here...like the Venezuelans.  It was really dividing the branch, and now he is saying that it doesn't matter!  SO AWESOME!  President and Sister Baird talked to me about a problem that some of the members here were having....that some in the branch don't feel like those who are here "illegally" should not have temple recommends and callings. He told me that he talked to President Gonzales of the 70 about the problem, and President Gonzales told him what the brethren (Church leadership in SLC) have said!  He, quoting them, stated: "this is not the kingdom of the world, this is the kingdom of God." I was practically squealing when they said that. It is sooo true though!!!  WE as humans have created boundaries and visas and all of that. God doesn't really care!!! Exaltation is way more important than whether or not you are an illegal on a tiny island in the Caribbean because your own country is in shambles.  Awesome.

OH!!! a couple other policy changes that i am THRILLED about!!! WE CAN HIGH FIVE AND FIST BUMP! finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! President Baird is really focusing on ministering as the Savior would, and he said he just can't imagine the savior going up to someone who wants a high five saying "I ONLY GIVE HANDSHAKES". SO TRUE. We are all really excited about that.   Also..... get ready for it.... We CAN WATCH THE BEST TWO YEARS (movie)!!!!! And Johnny lingo! And whatever we can find with the Church logo on it. SO. EXCITED. We already talked to a recently returned missionary here in Aruba and he is getting us a copy. SO EXCITEDDDD!!!! And my companion has never seen it so i cant wait to show her!!!

I hope you are all doing well on the Book of Mormon challenge! I want to hear an update of how everyone is doing! 32 days left (I'm pretty sure)! It has been sooo cool to see God's hand in this challenge. The chapters that I read this week are exactly what an investigator needs in that moment of their lives. Just so cool. PLEASE KEEP IT UP!!!

We are teaching SO MANY KIDDOS!! Holy cow! A list of their names: Xeaqion, Adrian(girl), Geonn, Jacksi, Britany, Sebastian, and Estefani. Craziness!  Xeaqion and Geonn were friends but they got into a fight. Hahaha these kids. We showed up right after it happened and talked with them and said a prayer because they were really mad. So funny. I love them. SOOO CUTE. Anyway, Margarita, Ramona, Nieves and Veronica are all doing well. I don't have enough time to talk about ALL of them, but just trust me hahaha! Amanda is so awesome! This last week she went on wiki and looked up Joseph Smith. Usually when we hear that we get nervous because there is SO much misinformation on there and we have lost some cool investigators that way.  Well not Amanda! She said "eh, it wasn't very interesting to me. Not very important or relevant anymore." So. awesome. she didn't care at all. I have NEVER had an experience quite like that XD Leo is doing awesome as well! We had an awesome lesson with him about the first vision and everything, and he totally understood perfectly about how there can only be one true church on the earth and that is it. So awesome. He also told us that a while ago he tried going to another church with one of his cousins. He said he went a few times, but it didn't really do much for him. Then he said that now ever since he started coming to "our" church he has been noticing such a big difference in himself. He says he wakes up in the morning with thoughts that he never could have thought of himself, and that they have to be from God. He has SOOO much potential. Its nuts. This gospel changes people! He already calls it "our" church and its so fun to hear that haha! I really do know that this is the true gospel! It is that "one faith" that is talked about in the book of Ephesians in the bible. "I love this perfect church", as Leo says it. He knows it's perfect, and so do I! The people within it may not always be, but the doctrine is 100% pure. I love life as a missionary.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love and miss you all! :)

-Sister Woodbury

 

 

Week 75 Aruba

Whoops! I said last week was week 75.  It wasn't...THIS is!  My bad! 

But anyway...... This week was awesome! Not too much happened so i don't have very much to write, but it was transfer week [HER LAST]! I am officially with Sister Robertson and I have been loving her!!! She is so awesome and i am excited for the adventures we will be having this week!

My testimony strengthened so much this week about the sacrament. We taught some members yesterday and we talked to them about the Atonement and the sacrament. One of the members said, "through the sacrament I can strengthen my relationship with Heavenly Father." I really liked that because I haven't really thought of it that way. I have always thought that it is just like a mini baptism and we just renew our covenants and we are cleansed. It is so beautiful to think that it is also a wonderful way to strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the sacrament. I have never understood it so well in my life, and i hope to continue to learn more constantly! 

Keep reading the BOM!!!! I am so loving it! Keep going!

I'm so grateful for my mission! i am LOVING this time and i dont want it to end so soon!  I hope you all have a great week! Big hugs!!!

-Sister Woodbury

Week 74 - Aruba

Hello Everyone!!!! Before I get started... Happy Birthday little Linley! LOVE YOU!!! :)

Well, this week was great! We got lots of new investigators which was awesome!!!!! That never happens in this area! We are now teaching some of the Venezuelans that we met last week and also Jonathan! Happy happy week!

Angelica....she is falling fast. She is changing a lot. She is now working on Sundays for the first time in 3 years in the store that she owns. She hasn't been to church and has been avoiding us. Our hearts are breaking. Soooo sad. She believes she is an "exemption to the rule" and that God will not have mercy with her because of her past. I can testify that that is not true, and that she is just really confused. The light that we used to see shining so brightly in her is really beginning to dim. Sad. But we keep praying for her!

Leo is doing AWESOME! He just came to church for the 3rd Sunday in a row and is loving it! He is sooo cool.

We had quite the experience this week that really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon! Last Monday, we were down in Playa and thought we should get some food, so we went to Taco Bell. Well, immediately after walking in I felt SUPER weird. It was as if the Spirit had left completely.  I didn't feel like we needed to leave or anything, but I know I didn't feel totally comfortable. As I was looking around I felt like it was just so dark in there and I just felt so strange. Well I immediately expressed my thoughts to Sister Hardy and she started to be a little weirded out as well. Well, we continued walking to the front counter when we passed this lady and this man who were sitting together. I really try not to judge anyone, but the feeling I had when we walked past that lady just screamed out at me that it was her that was impeding the Spirit from being there. This lady was completely decked out in black. Black clothes, hair, nails, jewelry, tons of black makeup, especially around her eyes. I have seen people dressed like her before and never even thought twice, I always just assume that that is their style, but this time based on the way I felt it was more than just her style. Well, we went and ordered our food at the front counter, got it, and then went and sat down. We sat down on a booth on the very left, right where you would enter in. The entry was behind me to the right and the front was a ways up in front of me. I was sitting with the wall to my left. I was freaking out. Seriously. I felt SO uncomfortable and I just didn't know what to do! We said a prayer on the food and Sister Hardy asked that we could be protected, that is how bad we felt inside. Well I couldn't even eat because I felt very anxious and stressed so I asked sister Hardy to share what she learned from her personal study that day. She shared, but I still felt uncomfortable so I decided to share too! I got out my BOM and read her some parts that I liked, and then I put it on the table next to the wall. Well the couple was having a yelling conversation and they were speaking in Dutch so we didn't even know what they were talking about. Shortly later, a man appeared outside near the door to come in. He was dressed in a big black garbage bag and was smoking Marijuana. He looked like he was on some kind of really bad drug trip. He was yelling at people outside and looked dangerous. I was freaking out. We were trapped. Well Sister Hardy said we should move the BOM over to the edge of the table, so we did and when she put it down on the edge I said I hoped it would act as protection! IT DID! As soon as we put the BOM down right there, the man outside left, and then a few moments later the couple left as well. She tried saying something to us on the way out but then just turned and kept walking. It was amazing. We both then realized at that moment that the Book of Mormon doesn't only protect us spiritually, but physically as well! I LOVE THAT BOOK! And I know it is true.

Have a wonderful week!!!

PLEASE KEEP UP ON THE BOM CHALLENGE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ! :)

-Sister Woodbury