Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

Hey everyone! I hope your Christmas season is going well and everyone is feeling Christ's love for them!

My week this last week has been good! Lots of things are changing so that's really great!

Monday we got Elder Jones ready to leave. He was super excited to be leaving. He had kinda given up hope for this area so it will be good to get some new, fresh missionaries in this area.

My first day with Elder Kent

Tuesday was transfer day! That’s also when I sent my last email. We woke up at 5:00 to go meet some missionaries in Beaumont at IHOP to have breakfast. The Beaumont ZL's, the Orange ZL's, and the missionaries from Fred all came and we all got breakfast before we headed out to transfers.
My new comp is Elder Kent. He is from Lewiston, Utah, and he went to Sky View! He and I are getting along super well so far. We also have two more missionaries out in Jennings now, Elder Anderson and his greenie Elder Howard.

Wednesday we met with the other Jennings Elders and made plans for how we are going to work most effective in this branch. I’m super excited and we are expecting miracles! We had mutual that night and they had us missionaries teach the young men what we wish we knew before our missions. It went super well. We had two investigators there that thought it was super interesting and they both committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to ask if it is true. I talked about how I wish that I understood that as a missionary, it’s not your own ability that will convert people, but it’s God's power that works through you. Even if you think you don’t know enough or aren't good at talking to people, it doesn’t matter. If you are willing and show faith in God then he will make it possible.
Also, a miracle happened today! We were at the church planning and such and when we pulled into the parking lot there was a car parked and there was a guy in it. So, we went and talked to the guy and he told us he was a member of the church but he was just driving through for his selling business and he was just eating lunch. He was very kind and offered us some of his lunch but we declined because he didn’t have that much and we didn’t want to take it from him. He then later walked into the building and handed us 50 bucks for the four of us for food! Haha That may not sound like a miracle to some of you, but when you are in an area where you don’t get fed like at all and you only have a little amount of money to pay for every meal plus laundry and cleaning stuff, 50 bucks can go a long way.

Thursday we spent a lot of time re-assigning all the investigators in the area book that are now in the other Jennings Elders’ area. It took a while because we had a few hundred old investigators and you have to send each one over individually. Also, it had been raining for the past like three days straight and the temperature was dropping more and more each day, and our heater is broken... Haha I think one night it got down to 52 degrees inside our apartment. Which isn't terrible but it’s definitely not comfortable to live in... Elder Kent and I turned on all the stove tops and stood over them like a fire to keep warm :p

Friday was a snow day! We woke up and there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground! P* called us and told us very sternly that he didn't want us driving anywhere! Haha Oh man, it’s so funny to see how everyone like shuts down and they don’t know what to do with snow. But it was super cool to watch some little kids experience snow for the first time. We also met this guy while we were trying to contact less actives and he told us he wasn't even aware that there were Mormons in the area! So hopefully we can get him and his non-member family to come to church.

SNOW!!

Saturday we went early morning to help set up for our Branch Christmas party! It was pretty fun! In between setting up and the actual party we went down to Lake Arthur and tried all the members there. After that we had the party and it was super fun! None of the less actives that we or the other Jennings Elders invited came but it was still fun. They had a nativity done by the Primary and they had a real life Santa come! E* told me she could tell it was the real Santa because his beard didn’t look funny ;p

Helping decorate table centerpieces for the Christmas party

Sunday we only had 34 in Sacrament Meeting. After church we went to the V.A. home and gave a member there the sacrament. He was super grateful and you could tell he felt so much better after. We were planning to go to Morse to help Brother H* learn how to track his stuff for his trucking job online because his company is switching to online stuff instead of paper and he asked for help, but he called us when we were on our way and said he had figured it out. So Elder Kent and I drove up to the top of our mission area and tried contacting people in Elton. That night we drove to Sulphur to have to dinner with President Young from the stake presidency. We and the Lake Charles district go every second Sunday of the month to discuss what we need help with in our areas and what is going well. It’s fun plus Sister Young is an amazing Cajun cook! We had gumbo and it was super good! I keep thinking I need to pick up a few recipes so I can give some to my brother Josh when I get back. I think he'd like that ;)

Anyways, I hope all is going well for all of you and I miss you all! I hope you have an amazing Christmas and remember to share the light of Christ with everyone around you. Even the littlest things can make a big difference!

Love,

Elder Wood

A salamander we found in the baptismal font. At least we got something in the font! :)

E* in her Christmas sweater