The Little Town That Could

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty awesome. Once again I don't have my planner so the events will all be out of order. But who cares. haha.

On Thursday we picked up a really good investigator. He is like, 17 and really interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. What it is, what's in it, why we have it, all that good stuff. We had a really good lesson about it and he wanted us to come back and talk more. Way cool.

Friday we had interviews. I wore my brown pinstripe suit (my mom's favorite - I refer to it as the hideous brown suit) and President Yardley said I looked like Robert Redford in the Sting. Best compliment I've ever been given. haha. (There will be no living with him now). He old me I'm staying and gave me some possibilities on who my next comp. would be. They were only maybe's, but if it were true, it would be SOOOO awesome! haha. So we'll wait till next week to find out. Well, I guess this week. Probably today!

Anyways. Saturday we went to Murtaugh. Now, I took two pictures of the Murtaugh sign on both sides. You'll notice BOTH sides say "Welcome To Murtaugh". Well that's because that's how big the town is. haha. It is very very small. But we did meet a really nice family who wanted us to teach their kids and baptize them. Score! haha. That doesn't happen too often.

Sunday we met with another new investigator. We taught him the 1st lesson and he really wants to learn more. He's interested in coming to church too. Sweet! Right after that, I had the opportunity to speak at a Priesthood Preview meeting. It was really cool. I didn't prepare anything at all, so it was pretty cool to be led by the Spirit in what to say. At least I hope it was the Spirit. haha. I know I said something about BSU and that's pretty close to carnal sin to talk bad about BSU. I saw a man get the death sentence for talking bad about them. haha.

That's all the big points of this week. It has been awesome and we are so thankful for the Lord's blessings. Especially Thanksgiving. Hooray turkey! haha.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love -Elder Woods

I asked Brad what he was going to do for Thanksgiving - his answer: Thanksgiving we can't do much. Just eat a lot. Which is what we do
everyday. "Here in the Idaho Boise Mission, you don't eat when your
hungry, you eat when your fed" haha.

Special 18 Month Mark Edition

Hey!

How is everyone?

So welcome to the special 18 month mark edition. A year and a half ago I began this amazing journey. It's flown by so fast, but luckily I still have a good amount of time to get some work done. You'd think that doing the same thing day in day out every single day for a year and a half would get boring, but everyday is amazing. It has become the only thing I know. Missionary work. It's awesome.

So......
to commemorate this occasion (as most Elders do) I burned a pair of pants. (well, just one pant for those who want to be correct with English. haha). I've burnt a tie and a shirt, and they went fine. But the burning pants created the WORST smell ever! It like soaked into the suit I was wearing and now can't wear it until I get it dry cleaned. (I hope it was the hideous brown suit) haha. It was horrible. But they lit up and burnt fast. We did it at the Gardners and they doused it in gas so it only took a few seconds for that thing to become ash. haha. It was pretty awesome.

Other than that, this week has been pretty swell. We picked up some new investigators and were able to do some service setting up Christmas stuff. (It really made me think of my mom when we were setting up a tree and Christmas music was playing.) But it was fun. It also made me realize how close Christmas really is. haha. Sweet.

So I threw on some random pics. One of Chain driving the crazy car. I don't know if it made it on the blog ever. At district meeting, Chain and I dressed up because we didn't last week. It was pretty fun. haha. and a few of the District Meeting last week. Which was hilarious.

Coming up this week is interviews. We're pretty excited. Thanksgiving weekend
should be pretty wild, but I'll talk about that when we get to it. haha.

Well, I hope all is well for you.

I love you all!

-Elder Woods

Another Elder Woods in Boise!!! Steve and I flew up to Boise on Sunday to hear our former neighbor Devin Larson speak in church. He is heading to Mexico and will be a fantastic missionary. Brad is 130 miles away in Twin Falls, so no, we did not go and see him but we did enjoy seeing some of the area Brad has yet to serve in. It is COLD there.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot.

A Big Thanks to Richard Simmon's Mom (Diane) For Sending Me This Awesome Picture

Elder Brace stylin' a perfect Brad

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty awesome. Zone Conference was on Wednesday and I ended up watching Bolt. It was better than I thought it was going to be. But due to my lack of movie watching over the past year and a half I think I could have enjoyed watching a Micheal Moore film. Ok, that's a lie, but you get the point. haha. At Zone Conference, we talked about car safety since 3 cars have been totaled. One was in Burley and sat in the parking lot. They could still drive it (somehow), but it was gone. The passenger side was smashed in and was missing the fender. It was destroyed.

I mention this car because it needed a place to stay until the insurance people came to look at it. It also needed someone to drive it to said location. That, was us. Elder Chain drove the beat up jalopy :) and I drove our car.(yeah,it was weird. For 3 minutes I was alone.). Anyways, I was driving behind Chain, when all of a sudden, the hood on Chains car decides to fly up like on Tommy Boy. Instead of slamming on the brakes and skidding like most panicked people would, Chain instantly puts his head out the window to continue driving like on Ace Ventura. haha, It was soooo funny. I managed to snag a pic, but don't have my camera on me so I'll try to put it on later. haha.

Anyways, since our missionaries didn't really get to dress up on Halloween, we thought we'd give them the chance on Guy Fawkes day (Nov 5) during District Meeting. Well the Twin Falls District didn't dress up, but the next day, the Jerome District totally did. Elder Naylor dressed up as Richard Simmons, Elder Smith dressed up like Flava-flave, and the best costume, Elder Brace dressed up like...ME!!! haha. It was pretty funny. The best part was the Coheed and Cambria Belt buckle he made. haha. It was way funny.

After District Meeting, I went on exchanges with Elder Naylor. It reminded me of being back in Caldwell. Except with a lot more farmland. haha. We had a great time and saw some miracles.

Other than that, this past week has flown by. Work is going good. We're hitting it hard cause its a little slow, but that's ok.

Hope you're all doing great.

Stay tuned for next weeks very special

18 month mark celebration blog!haha

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

Hey Hey Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ours was good. We couldn't do anything because I guess some people in Twin Falls dress up like missionaries and do bad things. So we were on lockdown. This didn't stop us from dressing up though! Both our costumes were random and un-explainable. haha. I was like...an old High Priest guy, and Elder Chain was a guy
decked out in plaid. It was pretty sick. We wore some pirate costumes at someones house who fed us dinner. Pretty fun, but I liked our originals more. Earlier in the morning, we went to the baptism of Colby Gardner. It was the 1st time I went to Stake Baptisms. Pretty cool experience. The coolest part of Halloween, was that we went to the Gardners later (to show off our costumes) and kids started showing up to trick-or-treat. Jokingly I said, "hey Nate (the other young Gardner son), you should pass out "pass along cards" with your candy". he was like, "OK!" so we gave him a stack of pass along cards and he handed them out. haha. It was pretty sweet.

As far as work, we are in the process of finding still. It's a long and sometimes boring process, but we stay positive that the Lord will bless us. Tomorrow is Zone conference where we watch a movie and basketball tournament. Most of you that know me know of my "love" for athletic sports (since I suck), so I am looking forward to the movie. haha.

Hope your all doing good.

I love ya tons!

Elder Woods

P.S. I don't think I explained a picture last week of an older gentleman. He's playing the saw. Apparently he's in the top 5 saw players in the world. I think its pretty easy though to be in the top 5 when there is only 5 saw players in the world. haha

A Chain-ge of Pace

Hey everyone!

So this week has really been INSANE.

So Tuesday we carved pumpkins before Elder West would have to leave to next day. I carved a Trogdor one. haha. They all turned out really cool and it was a lot of fun. Usually I get frustrated with carving since I suck, but I was pretty proud of this one.

On Wednesday, I got Chain BEFORE we dropped off Elder West. Which meant for 2 hours we were in a 5-some! Ya, absolutely crazy!!! haha. So I had to say bye to Elder West (which sucked cause Elder West has been one of my favorite comps) and return to the house with my 3 other comps. Luckily Chain is really cool. Unfortunately, Chain came to us at the tail end of having the swine flu. Which meant that we didn't get a TON of work done this week.

Friday we went out to Boise for Zone Leader Council, which was SOOO cool. We gotta hear from President which always owns. The drive to Boise is really long though so we were really tired when we had to go to Elder Naylors District Meeting in Jerome. It was good though. We played a good "get to know you game" which are always good.

Saturday we made the Zone Vision and calender. This transfer we will be celebrating "National Zombie Appreciation" week. I'll let you know when it comes up so you can participate in the fun. haha. That's one thing we're really excited about, is that this transfer is going to be way fun.

That's about it for the update. Other than that, Chain is recovering and we're doing good.

Hope you are all doing great.

I love ya all and don't catch the swine flu!!!

-Elder Woods

Will Work for Pizza

Hey everybody!

This week has been good. Last week of the transfer already. It has FLOWN by! Every new transfer has been the fastest transfer. haha. Its crazy.

Wednesday was really cool. We had a baptismal interview for Ashley and Eric (one I talked about last week)came to mutual. I promised him I'd go if he came. Mutual however, was kinda lame. All they were doing was watching the BSU game. LAME! (I called and asked for permision don't worry, and BSU won for anyone that is interested). But he said he still had a good time.

Thursday we had to take the car in to get the door fixed so we had to sit in a waiting room for like 2 hours with a million old people watching soap operas, court room shows, and celebrity tv. SOOOO awkward. I REALLY don't miss day time TV. haha. We later went to an investigators house and did some service. It was pretty fun. We had a really good lesson with Noah and Sharde (baptized a little while back) and met with Dallis and Eric (read last week). It was really cool. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and Priesthood and stuff. Pretty cool.

Friday we had our last Zone Meeting. It was way fun. The whole thing was about testimonies and letting people know that we're not just missionaries,we are representatives of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was a pretty powerful meeting. After that, we had a taco fry and watched "The Phone Call" a.k.a. the greatest movie the church has ever made.haha. We did service after that, clearing someones garden, they in turn, took us out to a wicked awesome pizza place. WAY good.

Saturday was a big day, we had the baptism of Ashley and Blake Miller. Blake was 8, but Ashley was 11 so she was a convert. But it was so cool to see both of them get baptized. They are soooo fun to teach.

Sunday was really cool. Eric's family came to church (minus the dad and one of his brothers). We even convinced Eric to go to classes. So cool. After church, we had a lesson with them on the Temple grounds. I snagged a picture with Eric there. It was a really good lesson. So over all, it's been a pretty good week.

Next week should be insane. I get my new comp. Elder Chain, and it looks like we're gonna need to start finding some new people since we baptized all of them. haha. and for all you keeping tabs on Elder Bergquist's trunky'ness, he has 9 days left.haha.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love ya!

-Elder Woods

Be Brave Bradley, Don't Be Chicken

Hey everybody!

How are ya!

So last weeks blog was as long as a Stephen King book, so I'll try to keep it down today. Plus I don't have my planner on me so I can only hit the big things that happened this week in no particular order. haha.

Friday we had interviews. They were pretty awesome. Talked alot about conference in the training and mainly focused on Elder Hollands talk. Cause it was amazing. During my interview, President hinted that Elder West and I wouldn't be together again another transfer. Pretty sad. But from Elder West's interview, it still sounded like a maybe...until we got transfer calls yesterday. Elder West is being transfered out to Boise North zone, and I am getting Elder Chain, whom I served with for 3 days while we were waiting to get our greenies. It should be pretty fun. I'm glad I got a cool comp for this transfer since the holiday transfers are the hardest.

Bergquist is going home in 16 days (you better believe he's trunky! haha) and we still have no clue what's happening to Elder Hohman (our visa waiter). So it should be pretty wild.

We have a baptism this Saturday which we're pretty excited about, and 3 new ones on the horizon! It was the best/greatest lesson I've ever been at. The Spirit was so strong and man, it was just awesome. In a nut shell,
we're teaching these 2 kids Eric (14) and Dallis (11). Both REALLY cool kids. Their mom is a member who is re-activating herself and their dad is not a member who said he doesn't want anything to do with the church. Well whenever we go to their house and teach a lesson, he leaves the room and goes upstairs. He's super friendly though. Every once in a while, he will poke his head over the balcony and ask a question about something we taught. As soon as we answer it, he goes back over the balcony. Anyways, we taught a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we taught about baptism, I challenged both kids to be baptized. They said yes! It was so cool. BUT, it only got cooler when the dad poked his head over and said, "is there some kind of process someone has to go through to be baptized?" We told him the process was just to take the missionary lessons. Mustering up ALL the courage I had, I said, "you know, I don't want to withhold this invitation from you." and asked him to be baptized. He TOO said yes!
It was SOOO amazing. I was sooooooo scared to ask him, but I learned a
valuble lesson about following the promptings of the Spirit. I think I learned as much that lesson as those we taught. It was SUCH a great
experience.

Well, I hope all is well for you all.

I love ya tons!

-Elder Woods