Transfers!

Hey friends and family!

First off, since transfers were today instead of yesterday, they had us have our P-day today. So that's why the letter is a day later than usual.

Anyways, not much really happened this week. It was kinda slow until the end of the week. Monday-Thursday were mostly uneventful. Except for the fact that Elder Jones thought it would be a good idea to paint our wooden table white... haha He got about a third of the way done till he realized it was going to look super, super bad. So we then scraped off all the paint and now part of our table has random white specks everywhere. :p

Friday was the first day of December! Which means #lighttheworld! We had district meeting in Lake Charles and then that night for our Light the World we went to the Welsh semi-finals football game to meet with some of our investigators there. And we actually came across a former investigator from before I was even here! We offered her our chairs but she kindly declined. So much for freely giving...

Watching the game

Marching band at the football game in Welsh, LA

On Saturday we took down some food orders to one of Brother T*'s friends in Crowley. We gave her the food and stuff and then offered a lesson. She accepted! haha This is the first real lesson I've been able to teach for quite some time... She was very kind to us and loved hearing what we had to say. The only thing was that she takes care of her daughter’s children and they have a little 2 year old boy. He has a full head of curly blond hair and blue eyes. He also has more energy than I’ve ever seen in one child and has absolutely zero fear with strangers. The second we walked in he was on us. I could tell Elder Jones was kinda stressed trying to teach a lesson with this kid going a million miles an hour around us so I tried to take most the heat from him. ;p He was jumping all around the couches, throwing balls to play catch, trying every second to steal our Book of Mormons to color on and our tablets to play games on. He even at one point came over to me and licked me right on the cheek! haha R* was super embarrassed but I’m used to kids so I just thought it was funny and cute. He then tried to make it better for licking me by giving me kisses on both my checks. haha He especially liked my watch because when you push a button on the side it glows up! haha He thought it was magic. We still had a good lesson what we said seemed to really stick. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and wanted us to come back! When it was time to go, the little boy was heartbroken... I tried to say a closing prayer and he kept interrupting me asking if I had to leave. Then when we stood up to go he ran in front of their door and demanded "You ain’t goin' no-where!" Haha We promised we would be back and had to leave. That night, we met up with the former Elder Wood-- now P*Wood. He left the same day I got to the mission. I've heard a lot about him but I hadn’t met him until then. He and his parents were driving through to see everyone from his mission and attend some sealings for his converts. We had dinner at Subway and he seemed like a super nice guy. Elder Jones knew him super well while he was still on the mission.

Sunday!!! The highlight of the week!!!! WE HAD THREE INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH!!! haha We actually had people come! It was a good way to end Elder Jones' time here in Jennings. J*, J* and C* all came! I sure hope they keep having a desire to build their faith in Christ. After church we had dinner with Sister M* and that was super good! She cooked goose! Bullets still in it included! haha I kinda felt like I was on that one movie, Second Hand Lions.

So for transfers, Elder Jones is heading to Williamson 3rd which is Vidor and I’m staying here in Jennings! My new companion is Elder Kent. He was a Zone Leader from Beaumont. It should be super good. They are also opening up another area in Jennings finally! Elder Andersen who used to be the Zone Leader is stepping down to District Leader and he is training there. Which means we four in Jennings are now a district. So we won’t be going to Lake Charles anymore. But it will be really good to get more missionaries out here just because before Elder Jones and I just had so much to cover. So many people and so little time or miles. It will be good but I’m a little sad because the T* family live in the other Jennings area. But I will still see them on Sundays so hopefully it'll work out still!

Anyways, that's pretty much all for my week! Although, I was reading the story of Jesus' sacrifice and the events that happened right before and after and I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. There was a man named Barabbas who was a murderer and thief who was imprisoned also when the people presented Jesus to Pilate to be crucified. Now as tradition Pilate was to release one prisoner free of debt on the feast. And the two candidates were Jesus the Christ and Barabbas the Murderer. Pilate at first thought this was absolutely ridiculous. He said, "Behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him. Therefore, I will chastise him and release him." But when he asked the people who they would have, they all cheered "Give us Barabbas." Pilate a second time tried to reason, but they all again said they wanted Barabbas to be freed. He then, even a third time, told the people that Jesus had done no wrong. He had no reason to be put to death. But the people still all cheered for Barabbas. So, Pilate let them do as they all pleased. Now, I think of this story but I see it from a little different perspective. Think of it as instead of us being Pilate trying to save Jesus and stand up for him, we are instead, Barabbas. For are we all not sinners? Have we all not gone about this life doing all manner of wrong and causing all kinds of pain? And then finally we are caught in our sins and put on death's row. Because that is what we deserve. We have sinned and with no Savior we deserve to be destroyed. But, then there is Jesus. He is there. And he willingly takes the blame for us. He is the one who paid for our sins. The people of the world cheer with loud voices saying we are the ones who deserve punishment for our sins. But there stands Jesus not saying a word to defend himself against the people because he understands. He understands that this must be done so that all of us can have a chance. Now, we can tell ourselves we aren't worth it. We can say that we have gone too far. We, like Barabbas, are known sinners and have done so much wrong that we feel we are not worth saving. All of those feelings, all of those thoughts are complete and utter lies from the enemy. See Jesus didn't hate Barabbas for the people choosing a murderer over the son of God. But Jesus loved Barabbas. Jesus loves all of us. And his atonement reaches out to all of us. And if you think it’s too late for you, you’re wrong. Even when your time is up and you are about to be crucified for your sins, Jesus stands next to you and takes your sins upon himself. All you have to do is use his atonement and repent. Come unto Him and change your life for the better. Jesus has already payed the price. All that is left is for you to choose to use it.

Anyways, I love and miss you all! I hope this week has gone by wonderfully for all of you and I hope as this Christmas season rolls along that you will take time to realize how blessed you all are! Don’t forget to #lighttheworld! You can go to lds.org or mormon.org to see ideas on how to get started!

Until next week!

Love,
Elder Wood

Cool Sunset

Christmas lights on the street by our apartment