Week 60

May 22, 2017

Speaking of weather, instead of Mother Nature getting Hot and Cold mixed up here, it has wet and dry confused. It has rained about 8 of the past 10 day, and i don't mean Seattle rain, i mean downpour. Its not stopping us, just slowing us down a bit, we have to dry our stuff out when we get in at night. 

We are staying very busy and working hard. I love the people here, they are awesome. I will send more in the mass email as always. 

TTYL,

---Elder Wood---

A rainbow leading to the church building. I just thought it was cool. Although my camera is waterproof I haven't been taking too many pictures because of the amount of rain Sav is getting. It won't stop us (might slow us down) from sharing this great message. 

Week 59

May 15, 2017

As everybody know it was Mother's Day yesterday, what some of you might not know is that we Video Chat home to our parents on Mother's Day. I was great to see them again and to be able to see how much my brothers have grown and change. They told me that one of the changes that has happened to me is my hairline.

Anyways, the rain tried to stop us this week, but we didn't let it happen. As the roads flooded and some paths were near impassible, we just walked different paths, following where the Spirit told us to be. We were able to make one of our recent converts very happy because of this. All of a sudden she hears a knock at her door at like 8:30 at night, and what does she see? Four soaked people bringing her a mother's day present, it was great.

I love that God lets us choose for ourselves so much. He lets us grow in wisdom and strength, and then He continues to help us. He will give us strength beyond our own if we exercise what we do have and seek after Him.

I hope to be able to talk to you all next week, its always a pleasure.

---Elder Wood---

Lets take a shortcut I said, it will be quick I said.

I convinced Elder Sutton that we could take a "shortcut" through some sugar cane fields. As you can see, we reached a point where there were no houses to be seen.

Week 58

May 8, 2017

So this week has been adventurous. We walked through lakes, played musical chairs with Elder placement, and everything tried to go wrong on Sunday.

So lets talk about first things first. It was not a lake that we walked through, but we did walk through a flooded road, let me show you what some other flooded roads looked like.

ok, now that we are on the some page. Elder Sutton and I walked through a good 50 feet of flooded road, our shoes were SOAKED. Luckily it dried up a lot overnight, so it wasn't as bad the next day. This also happened the day that Elder Shaffer left Sav, he had been here in Sav for 10 and a half months. As for Elder Sutton, he has been in Jamaica for 3 months, he is from Rexburg, Idaho. Yes, he does live only an hour away from my home ward. Last of all the water was giving trouble in church on Sunday. It is very much need to use the bathrooms there.

As you can see it was pretty adventurous, but all that doesn't compare to what we shared. Why we travelled through the flooded roads. We went there to see a family and share the wonderful message of the Restoration with them. It was worth it. I do have to go now, but I wish you all the best.

---Elder Wood---

Myself & Elder Sutton

My desk looked like this today.

Elder Sutton's desk.

Week 57

May 1, 2017

Well, another Transfer is coming to a close, it is the last week in this tranfer. I also only have 2 more days with Elder Shafer, afterwards, I will be serving with Elder Sutton. I will still be in Sav, in fact, I will be the District Leader. We had a baptism on Friday, his name is Brother McKnight. We were also able to meet with Elder Martinez and Brother Owen from the General Authorities on Saturday. That was an amazing experience to participate in. They helped remind us of why we are out here, and why we work so hard.

As for the distance to Negril, it takes us close to 45 minutes to get to Negril, depending on how fast the taxi driver drives.

I know that as we listen to the Spirit we will be able to accomplish miracles. I can't wait to tell you about the miracles that are happening in the coming week when I email you next monday. It is that time where I wish you all farewell until next time.

---Elder Wood---

We had another baptism this week! His name is Chris McKnight, he lives in Negril.

Some of his family sang a primary song to help the family set their goals toward the temple now that the entire family is now members. It so awesome that "families can be together forever"!

And as for the last one, Help! I have been buried!

Week 56

April 24, 2017

Just a short email this week. As always, I have many wonderful email to read that sometimes I almost forget to write mine. We have also been very busy this week. We moved out of our apartment and we helped the sisters move apartments as well. Our move went pretty good, as for the sisters they having a few hiccups in the move but they should settle in pretty well.

Now onto the important stuff. We are having a baptism on Friday and it will be wonderful, hopefully with the help of that family and our own efforts we can reopen the branch in Negril so those that are in Negril will not have to travel so far to partake of the sacrament. We just have to work little by little, step by step.

I love all of y'all and I will write to you next week!

---Elder Wood---

Just a picture of Elder Shafer and myself about to head out of our apartment for the day.

Week 55

April 18, 2017

This week ended really weird. As of yesterday we were preparing to do some service in the evening because nobody was really around. My companion climbed up the tree and chopped and chopped, cutting limbs off left and right. Unfortunately the cover for the machete had started to slip, so he tried to adjust it. As he did so, his finger slipped and he sliced his finger. We ended up with the zone leaders and he got stitches. Now he can say that he put his blood, sweat, and tears in to that tree.

While this is just a temporary adventure of getting the finger healed we sometimes get hit with things bigger than just a little blood. Sometimes we have to do things that we never planned on doing, does God want us to fail? Does he not want us to do what we want? No, He wants us to become better. I know that we would never become better if we were never pushed, at least not near as much growth.

I hope that you are all growing and enduring and enjoying life, because it can become a real roller-coaster sometimes.

---Elder Wood---

Doing some service for an investigator on Easter Monday. 

Elder Shafer getting his finger dressed before we go to a doctor's office and get 5 stitches.

A halo around the sun while we were in Mo-Bay, isn't mother nature weird sometimes?

Also a great sunset that I got a picture of.

Week 54

April 10, 2017

Hello all, its great to be emailing you this week. I all glad to be here because not too long ago I caught a cold and it tried to slow me down. Although there aren't any hills to climb here in Sav, there is a sun that likes to make things quite hot.

Fast Sunday was awesome, although we are a branch here, we had so many people bear their testimony about the church, the Book of Mormon, and about God's power being restored to the Earth.

In my personal studies this morning I read over something quite interesting that I hadn't thought about for a while. It's in a book called "Our Search For Happiness" it is by M. Russel Ballard. It pointed out that the reason God gives us His power because He isn't here. He gives it to us because He still loves all of us and wants to bring blessings and miracles into our lives. He wants us to talk to Him and all that he asks it that we listen and follow Him, so we can be our best. I know that is true.

I wish you all a happy week,

---Elder Wood---

These are pictures of Sav, which is extremely flat as you will see. The first picture also has my companion in it. Elder Shafer was 'posing' for the picture.