We were able to go to the temple on Saturday, but not in Columbus. We got to go to Detroit because the Columbus temple is closed for cleaning and it won't open until after Elder Nageli (most likely) leaves, so we moved it to Detroit instead! Just a little note to Mom and Emmie and Darcy: Yes, Detroit is still a dump and is still as sketchy as it was when we were there a couple of years ago. So many roads going all over the place and the only place I didn't feel like I could get shot at any second was at the temple! The temple is in a super nice neighborhood. Guess what road it was on? Yep, that's right. Woodward Avenue. There were multiple temple workers who joked about that. The temple was actually in Bloomfield Hills (I think) and it was probably the nicest neighborhood in all of Michigan. There were Lamborghinis and Ferraris driving around like it was nobody's business. All the houses were super nice and huge. Way too big for anyone normal though.
We woke up at 4:45 in the morning to get ready to go to the temple because we had to be there at 8:30 for a 9:00 endowment session and it was a two and a half hour drive. We left at 5:45 and drove up with the couple that was getting sealed. Definitely tried to sleep on the way up but cars just aren't the most comfortable thing to sleep in. The temple is really nice! It looks a lot bigger on the outside than it was on the inside, but it's still a temple and they all do the same thing. I think there are more stalls to change in in the Logan Temple Baptistry than there are in the main dressing room in Detroit. It was so small. It was kind of surprising walking in and it being so small. There were so many people there for the endowment session that every seat was full for both men and women and they even had to pull out six extra folding chairs for the men because there were so many people! It was crazy to see that many people. After the endowment, we got changed and went to the sealing for the couple. It was the couple, the Branch President and his wife, and Elder Nageli and I there for the sealing. Elder Nageli and I were able to be the two witnesses for it so that was really neat. We got to sign the certificate the couple gets so they will always be able to remember us. On our way home, we stopped to eat at Denny's and got some good food. We didn't get back home until 4:00 and then went and did service and had dinner at a members home and then went to a less actives house to teach him. He is the one that I think I talked about last week how he got a suit to come to church and is paying his tithing. He said that this week he started reading the Book of Mormon during his lunch breaks and it seemed like everything this week went better for him. I wonder why... The only bad thing is his truck broke down on Saturday so he wasn't able to come to church yesterday.
Trainer calls were last night and guess what? Nope. I'm not training. I couldn't be more happy. Elder Nageli kept telling me all day that I was going to get a call just because he wanted me to train. But I'm not. So I'm guessing I'll be in Tiffin until the middle of November. Unless I get moved at the end of this transfer which is next week. That means that I won't be emailing until Tuesday next week, so don't freak out mom when I don't email on Monday. I'm still alive and everything will be alright. We won't find out until next week where Elder Nageli is going if he does leave, but I keep telling he is going to Warren, Ohio which he hates because he doesn't want to go there. He harassed me about training, so I can harass him about going to Warren. It's all done in love though.
We almost died yesterday on our way to church. But I'm still here and we didn't die so all is good. Don't worry about it mom. We were driving to church and the sun was in the perfect position to blind Elder Nageli from seeing a car so he went to pull out and I saw my life flash before my eyes. It wasn't that dramatic, but it was a little scary. Elder Nageli gunned it and was driving on the wrong side of the road for a little bit so we didn't get smashed into. It was great! Got the adrenaline pumping right before church which is always needed so I don't fall asleep. Just kidding. I don't fall asleep.
Last Monday after preparation day, we went over to the less active's house that we got a referral from to teach her neighbor. The dad came down with his 6 year old daughter because the daughter wants to go to church. She is probably the smartest six year old I have ever met. She knew so much and paid super good attention to the lesson and answered questions that we had. We even gave her a Book of Mormon for her family and she said she would read it! We told her we would get her a Book of Mormon Stories book for her because it's a lot simpler and has pictures in it. It was definitely a good idea because she read the first chapter but didn't really understand it. I guess she is only six. Her dad wasn't quite as interested and said he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon, but we are going to work on him through his daughter. On Friday we were able to meet the wife/mom and she is so cool! She actually wants to learn and had an LDS friend when she was in high school that she went to church with a couple of times. We couldn't teach her when we met with her because she had to run home because family friends were coming from somewhere to visit. But yesterday, the mom and the daughter both came to church! The daughter (Autumn) was a little bit nervous to leave her mom and go with a bunch of strangers but the Primary President grabbed her and made Autumn her "Special Helper" for primary so her mom could come to our class. She was the only one there so we taught her and picked her up as a new investigator! We invited her to be baptized and she said she would, we just didn't leave a date. She smokes a little, but that's typical out here, so that's something we will have to work on. The primary LOVED having Autumn there. They said she answered all the questions and was reading for them and talked about how reading the Book of Mormon made her feel. They gave her a CD for the primary program because there are like five other kids in primary, so they really want her there to participate. As long as they get rides to church, it seems like they will keep coming. They both really enjoyed church.
The rest of the week was pretty good! We had Zone Conference in Lima on Wednesday which is always good and then exchanges out there for the rest of the day. The Zone Leaders are so great. It's so much fun to work with them. They also have probably the nicest apartment in the mission with hardwood floors and granite counters. It's just a nice place. The only problem is they live in the village of Delphous, Ohio. Massive town. Then on Thursday we did exchanges with the Findlay elders and I took over the area for the first time. Elder Nageli stayed in Findlay and I came back here. It was pretty good, a couple of the members here were a little bit dramatic with stuff that happened, but all in all, it was a good day. We picked up a couple of potentials when we were out tracting, so that's always good. Moving the work forward.
Gonna watch conference this weekend, most likely at different member's homes. Pretty excited for it. For the Priesthood session we are going to end up going to Findlay because they are doing a dinner there at 7 and then Conference at 8. So we won't even get home until after 10:30. Pretty rebellious out here in Tiffin. It's weird having Conference at a time other than 10, 2, and 6. I didn't think about the time change until a couple of days ago.
What else made this week great? NOBODY WENT TO JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry family, it must be boring that nobody was there this week. Maybe next week. 😉
This was a really long email. Don't get bored reading it. It was a good week.
Love,
Elder Woodward
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