Youngstown, Ohio - December 20, 2017

I found this new song that has become my favorite over the last couple of weeks with Christmas coming up. So go watch it. Here's a link: https://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/videos/twelve-days-of-christmas-count-von-count-organ-solo.html     It's the best version of the 12 days of Christmas I have ever heard. 

 

But on to the rest of the week. So last week I was talking about how much it snowed on Tuesday, and then also on Thursday it snowed a whole bunch. We had a couple of inches and I was very excited that it was going to be a White Christmas. And then the weekend rolled around. Saturday was in the high 30's, Sunday was in the 40's and raining, Monday was also in the 40's, and then yesterday was flipping up in the 50's! Needless to say, all that snow that came just in time for Christmas is no longer here. So it looks like we are going to have a green Christmas this year as well. Kind of bummed, but it doesn't look like there is going to be anymore snow fall out here in the next couple of days, and over the weekend it's supposed to be in the 40's again, so not much chance if you ask me. But since it has warmed up a little bit, it has made it extremely nice. 

 

Yesterday we had our mini Christmas Conference/Zone Conference and it turned out really well. Lots of good food to start it off which is always good, and then a great meeting. Lots of Christmas music, lots of special musical numbers, lots of good singing, lots of also really bad singing but good none the less, lots of miracles because we got a book of miracles from all the missionaries in the mission. It was just a good day, and it was warm so nobody was freezing as cars were being inspected and making sure they are working. President and Sister Brown are awesome as always. No crazy news coming from it, but still good. 

 

We were able to see Callei this last week again after we had dinner with her grandparents and were able to really start teaching her and set a baptismal date for January 20th, the weekend after stake conference. I love that whole family with all the little kids. One thing I've learned is that teaching kids is so much more difficult than teaching adults. We were teaching about the Plan of Salvation Sunday after church and were talking about the kingdoms of Glory and how they are compared to the sun, moon, and stars, and the smartest of them all raises her hand and starts to say, "but the sun is a star" and then her grandma cut her off and let us keep going haha. Kids are great. But for reals, one of the brothers of Callei is the cutest kid ever and always waves when he sees us now and it's my favorite thing ever. I love that family. 

 

Did some service shoveling snow that all melted, but it was still nice to do some service, also helped at a member's house that we have been helping at the last couple of weeks to get it cleaned up and get the furnace hooked up, had the wonderful opportunity of being voluntold to play the piano at the Ward Christmas Party (voluntold=volunteered+told, an extremely common occurrence as missionaries). Did some more service helping some members move stuff up out of the basement of their parents who one is in a nursing home and the other passed away, and we have been doing a ton of finding recently. President Brown is making a big push for everyone to do at least 2 hours of finding every day, between 4 and 6 and then having dinner at 6 because having dinner at 5 was really inconvenient because then it would be dark and people out here just automatically go to bed as soon as it gets dark and refuse to answer the door, even if it is only 6:30. So that got changed around starting on Monday and things have been going well and we've been able to talk to a lot more people than we had before and we've been able to find quite a few potentials to go along with it. 

 

Other than that, things are good! We will talk on Monday, and won't be able to email next Wednesday! Love you!

 

Elder Woodward

Youngstown, Ohio - December 13, 2017

So Christmas is only two weeks away. That itself is crazy. And three days after Christmas is my 6 month left mark (I'll be flying home on June 28th unless they change how they do it), and that is crazy as well. Also, Christmas is going to be preparation day, so that means no emailing that next Wednesday on the 27th. Remember that. Sad news, but no, the mission isn't going to be doing any mission conference like it did last year. It was all planned out and it was going to happen, but then Elder Gong who is the area seventy over the North America Northeast area doesn't want full mission conferences to be happening anymore, so it was cancelled. I don't know if it came from the mission department or just Elder Gong, but they don't really want the missionaries gathering together as much anymore, so it's not happening which is sad because that is part of what makes this mission so great, being in Kirtland for a Christmas conference. But instead of just not doing anything at all, the zone conferences for this transfer are going to be just about the exact same thing as last year, just in each zone instead of with the whole mission. It's still going to be good and that is happening next week.

 

I'm sure you can tell by the subject line, but it finally snowed here! We got a few little flurries in the past couple of weeks, but nothing that stuck to the ground. Until Monday night that is. It snowed a little bit on Monday, and when we woke up on Tuesday, there was a whole inch on the ground and on our truck. Unlucky for us, we also had MLC yesterday, so we needed to drive all the way up to the mission office near Cleveland. The normal hour and half trip was extended to two hours and 45 minutes because of the snow that came down and was continuing to come down as we drove. Since we were driving earlier enough in the morning, some of the roads hadn't been plowed yet so it made it a long drive up there. Luckily there were no car crashes that we saw or were involved in, so that made the day that much better. No sliding off the road, just a perfect drive up and back. It also took a long time to get back to our area so we didn't make it home until after 7 o clock in the evening. Long day with a lot of driving. It was good though because MLC is always a great meeting that is looked forward to by everyone that goes. 

 

As for the rest of the week, I don't really remember much of what happened. The lady that came into the church a few weeks ago to do family history has been back the last couple of weeks and we have been able to continue to help her with that, and we are finding a lot of things that she didn't know about and she loves it! She always finds something new each time and is always so excited about it all. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone so excited about family history, but she is loving it all and is planning on coming again next week. We haven't been able to teach her any of the lessons yet, but she is still coming to the church. Hopefully she starts to come for the meetings soon! Our ward has been trying to find all the people that are still on the records for our ward but have moved out. So this last week we spent some time trying to find all of them and going by their house to see if they still live there. Just trying to help the ward out how we can, and trying to still talk with everyone. As we were out and about, we were trying to see someone who wasn't home, so then we went to try to see someone else who also wasn't home. BUT as we were standing on this person's doorstep, someone driving by saw us and pulled over to the side of the road and got out his car and came over to us. At first I thought he was going to chew us out for being missionaries, but then he started asking about how to get in contact with the missionaries in another ward in the mission because that's where he lived and they used to help him at a hunger center in the community up by the lake. Never would have met him any other way, just goes to show you that missionaries truly are placed in other people's paths, and others are placed in our paths so we can talk with them. It didn't help our area at all, but it was a nice little miracle to talk with that guy. 

 

We had interviews again with President Brown which is always good, had exchanges which are also always good, just had a good week all around. Still trying to find more people that we can teach and work with, but no complaints here in this area! Ohio is the place to be even when it's 20 degrees outside and always windy, but it's well worth it each and every day!

 

Love,

Elder Woodward

Youngstown, Ohio - December 6, 2017

Well hello! It feels like this last week dragged/drug on forever. All because of a simple preparation day change, going from Thursday to Tuesday and then all the way to Wednesday really just messes everything up and all the timing of the week was off. But nevertheless, here I am emailing once again. Already one week into this transfer, only 5 more to go. We have Christmas coming up, MLC next Tuesday, Zone Conference in a couple of weeks, and then it's transfers again and I'll be getting a new companion for sure since Elder Klinglesmith will be going home. But for reals, everything is going well.

The first couple of days of December have been eventful and warm. But it seems to be that every single Wednesday when we email it's freezing cold because my toes are always cold when we are emailing. But starting today it seems like the weather is going to be consistently cold, and it might be snowing on Saturday or Sunday for the first real time. And yes, I already know that you have snow out there. Since all of the time I've been in accidents on my mission, the last couple of days have been a little scary. I have witnessed two accidents since Sunday, but luckily I wasn't in either for the first time. If I had driven a little slower then I very well could have been in both, but luckily I have semi-good timing. Also exchanges on Friday. Always a good time. We saw a member at Little Caesars that ended up buying our pizza, so Little Caesars is the chosen restaurant.

So last Tuesday we had some time open up in the evening for our proselyting time, and we had a referral we were planning on seeing on Wednesday, but we texted her and were able to go over Tuesday instead. One referral then turned into 5 new investigators! When we got there the lady we were going to take a Bible to ended up calling her two 18 year old sons that were down the street at their cousin's house, and they came running back and brought two of their cousins with them, and we were able to teach them all and give them all a Book of Mormon and the all said they would read it. So awesome finding more people that are looking for the truth and we are able to help them find it! We've been doing some service helping a lady in the ward get a furnace down into her basement and then cleaning out her basement as well. It's been fun and it's been a few days work, but it looks so much nicer down in her basement and the furnace should be getting hooked up in the next couple of days. And we were able to help a member put up a bunch of Christmas lights as well yesterday even though it was raining and cold. We've been doing quite a bit of finding to try and find new investigators lately, and trying to find a bunch of less actives that might have moved out of the area and are making slow progress on it. Except the new investigators section. 

Also another little miracle that happened, there are two recent converts in this area, one is 12 and the other is 10. We went to teach them another lesson since they've been baptized, and we were able to find out that they have a sister that is about to turn 9 in January that wants to be baptized. They come to church every week with their grandma, but their dad isn't active and their mom isn't a member but knows that the church is good for their kids. So when we were over there, they told us that they wanted the almost 9 year old, Callie, to be baptized after she turns 9 and they want us to help her prepare for that. So we have started to teach her as well and things are going great. I'll let you know how things end up with her every week.

That's all that I can think of for this week, so I guess this is it! Love you all!

Elder Woodward

Youngstown, Ohio - November 28, 2017

It's weird that it has been such a short time since we emailed last, but that's what happens with transfers. So, not really sure what has happened since last week either. But Thanksgiving was so good! We were at a member's mom's house for dinner because that's where they were all going, and the turkey was fried. I've never had a fried turkey before, but I would definitely recommend it. It doesn't change how it tastes, just keeps it juicy so it doesn't dry out. The food was all really good for real though. I ate too much because of course you have to stuff yourself on Thanksgiving, but it was well worth it. Lots of stuffing and turkey and candied yams and more turkey and stuffing and then more stuffing after all that. Sadly, no mashed potatoes, but so much other food that it made up for it. 

We had exchanges on Friday right after Thanksgiving and were blessed with a second Thanksgiving for lunch from some members here. Sadly still no mashed potatoes though, but more turkey and stuffing which are the best part of Thanksgiving anyways. It was a good thing because the elder that I was with didn't end up getting a Thanksgiving dinner so he just got it the day after. We were able to see a few people during the day, went tracting for some time, and had a good time. 

 

The only not so good thing about Thanksgiving was that Elder Klinglesmith was sick. He started to get sick on Wednesday and is still sick but getting better. Lots of people are getting sick out here because of the stupid up and down of the weather. 60 degrees today, and it's supposed to be down to 37 degrees tomorrow. It's annoying but at least I'm not sick, so I don't mind, but Elder Klinglesmith is powering through and still working even though he is sick. 

 

I guess I will let you know about transfer information now even though there's not that much to update you on. Elder Klinglesmith and I are both staying here in Youngstown for one more transfer until he goes home, and then I'll be getting a new companion. But we got all the transfer information last night and got everything taken care of, so things are going to be good next transfer.

 

I decided to pull out the Christmas tree we have in our apartment and set it up on Sunday during our time for dinner. It's just a four foot tree, but we got lights and the weird shiny stuff put up on it, just no ornaments. It's kind of a sad tree, but it's better than a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! Maybe we will get some ornaments for it today, not too sure. It doesn't really feel like it's time for Christmas though because there isn't any snow here yet, and today it's warmer than it should be at the end of November. I don't know if I want it to get cold or not, but I definitely want snow for Christmas. We will have to wait and see what happens. 

 

Saturday we spent a lot of time knocking on doors and were able to talk with a few people, tried to get some people to watch the Light the World video, and did everything we could. The Campbells are doing well, we are just going through the new member lessons with them and working on getting them down to the temple when we can find a ride for them. 

 

There's a few people that we meet with every week that I don't think I've told you about, but we have a 10 year old investigator who's parents are both members but they want her to make the decision to be baptized, so we have been working with her. The only problem is they let the Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries also come over so the daughter can make her own decision of which church to join. We talked with them about Kirtland when we saw them yesterday because around Christmas they set up over 1,000 nativities from around the world up there and we might be able to go see them with this family. Hopefully it happens because that would be awesome to get to go to Kirtland again. 

 

We have some service opportunities coming up this week helping a less active put up Christmas lights at their house. Whoda thought that I wouldn't ever help at home but I volunteer to do it out here. How things have changed. I might just surprise you when I get home in 7 months to the day. Things are going well here in Youngstown and we are still just working hard and doing everything we can to help everyone here!

 

Love Elder Woodward

Youngstown, Ohio - November 23, 2017

Well first off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So many things to be thankful for each and every day, especially missionary work! Too many miracles go on and great things happen that I'm thankful for.

Just so you all remember, we are going to be emailing on Tuesday instead of Wednesday because it is already time for transfers again. This last transfer has gone by so fast I can't even believe that I've already been here in Youngstown for over a month. I was thinking about that on Monday night and realized that a week from then we would be getting all the transfer calls and time is just going by too fast. Hard to believe that after this one, there are only five more transfers before I'm home. Craziness if you ask me. I don't think I'll be leaving Youngstown just because I've only been here for one transfer, and I also don't think that I will be getting a new companion because Elder Klinglesmith's next transfer is his last transfer, so we will probably be staying together another one. 

It's been cold the last couple of days. Yesterday it was snowing a little bit, but nothing stuck, and it's just been cold. I wish it was 60 degrees out here for Thanksgiving, but instead it is half of that. On Sunday I just checked and it is supposed to be a high of 29. It's a very good thing I have an electric blanket or I might die at night. Quick update on last week besides the weather: We did some service raking some leaves for a member in the rain and the cold, but got it done super fast because I was trying to stay warm so the faster I moved that warmer I was. I ended up raking probably three-fourths of the yard because I didn't want to get cold and because we didn't have a ton of time, so we had to go pretty fast. The guy that we were raking leaves for has turned into one of my favorite people here, just super funny old guy that is always saying nice things to me, and he should be coming to church soon, so that's always a bonus. 

We had zone conference last week and even though we weren't supposed to do anything it was still really good! Such a good meeting and always a wonderful opportunity to learn from President and Sister Brown and feel of their love for the missionaries and the people here.  It's never a dull moment in a zone conference and it's amazing how much you can learn even if it is a repeat of what you've heard before. There's always ways to improve and grow as missionaries. Saturday flew by and we ended up being out in the rain tracting for a good while, but thankfully it wasn't raining all day here like it was in Cleveland. Just for when we were out tracting with umbrellas in the dark trying to stay warm and dry. Sunday we had a neat experience. We were sitting in our class for Priesthood and conveniently enough the lesson was on missionary work. About five minutes into the lesson, a member of the Bishopric walked in and said there was a non member that was in the family history center in the building and told us we should go talk to them. So it was great because we got out of a boring class and this lady had just walked into the church to do her family history. There is a small sign out by the road that she had seen a couple of times but everytime she tried coming no one was here, so she came on Sunday. We were able to help her a little bit with a member here that was in the family history center and got her an account and also started entering in some of her information on there. Super cool lady that has been wanting to do it for a long time now but didn't want to pay for it. So we are going to help her do that and also teach her more of why we do family history.

We were on exchanges on Tuesday and luckily weren't in our area, so there wasn't as much pressure on the day. We got to go to our district leader's area and work down there with them and both the elders down there are a ton of fun and good missionaries. Luckily it wasn't as cold that day, so it made it nicer to be out and about, but either way the work has to get done, and we did it. Saw a few people down there, got told we were going to get the cops called on us, always a fun time working in the dark. 

Hopefully it snows there as much as it did last year and it only snows here as much as it did last year so we can be saved from it out here. That would be the best, but luckily I won't be on a bike again like last winter. Or on the lake. It's already looking good for this winter. Also, make sure you go to mormon.org and check out the LIGHTtheWORLD video the church put out and look for ways that you can serve other people and do good. It's a great video and a great initiative to participate in. Have a good week and be safe!

Love Elder Woodward

 

Youngstown, Ohio - November 15, 2017

Well based off of the subject line, it finally decided to snow here! It's been cold for a while, but the snow finally came last Friday, and it was only 27 degrees. Don't know what it's like at home, but it's cold here. Luckily the snow didn't stick and it was only a little bit on the grass, but it means that winter is almost here and with that means the Christmas is almost here.  Also since it's been so cold I had to get out the electric blanket to put under the other two blankets to keep me warm at night. Oh the joys of Ohio in the winter. But one of the cities that we drive through all the time already has started decorating for Christmas with snowflakes on the street lights and stuff like that, so Christmas is coming soon. Almost less than a month. Oh before I forget, the mission is doing the same thing it did last year with preparation day being on Thanksgiving, so we won't be emailing on Wednesday, it's going to be Thursday next week.

We had a couple of exchanges this week with some other elders, and one of them I had already been on exchanges with when I was in Alliance. That's what happens when you don't move very far. But both days were pretty good with both sets of elders. I love getting to go on exchanges with so many other missionaries not only because you get to work with others, but now there are so many more opportunities to help the other missionaries and serve them. It's helped me to be able to truly learn to love all the other missionaries and want to do them, and it's crazy seeing them change from when they first come even just a few weeks later. Did some tracting, had some lessons, had some dinners, and got flamed a couple of times. But it's always good serving the Lord. 

We found a new investigator a couple of weeks ago that I kept forgetting to tell you about, but now it's not worth it because she texted us yesterday morning that she wants to focus on her Bible studying and will keep an open mind about the Book of Mormon. Hopefully one day she comes back around, but there's nothing more that we can do. But to replace that, we got a referral on Monday and were able to contact her yesterday after setting up an appointment with her. Ohio has this weird thing that I like to call OTS (Ohio Talking Syndrome) and this lady was a prime example of it. BUT we were able to teach her a little bit and we are going back again next week, so there's always some one to teach!

We have zone conference this week on Friday, but I lucked out this time around and Elder Klinglesmith and I don't really have anything to do in it besides him conducting the meeting. There was only one discussion for the zone leaders or sister training leaders to give, and the sisters decided they were going to do it so we just get to sit back and enjoy the show. Hopefully it goes well because it's kind of a repeat from last zone conference, but either way it's going to be good. 

One thing we've been doing recently with members is helping them do missionary work by sharing the gospel through social media, whether it be Facebook or Instagram. It's been crazy to see how easy it is to share the gospel and do missionary work using those sites, and the members here are so excited to do it! It's great because it doesn't matter if someone has only lived in the area for a month or twenty years, it helps people to share the gospel with anyone they know anywhere in the world, not just their neighbors. It's been going really well so far, so we are going to keep doing it! And everyone at home should do it as well!

Time has been going by too fast and it's not very fun because every week that goes by means that's one less week I have out here, which is not very exciting. It'll be Christmas before too long, and then before I know it I'll be heading home. It's crazy how much I've learned to love the people out here, and don't want it to end. Just trying to make it last and keep working hard!


Love you all!
Elder Wooodward

Youngstown, Ohio - November 8, 2017

Well this last week was another great one! The Campbells were baptized on Saturday evening and both confirmed on Sunday as the newest members of the Youngstown Ward. Most of Saturday was taken up by getting ready for the baptism and cleaning the font and then filling the font, and then the baptism as well. (There's a picture of me cleaning the font) There was a little bit of difficulty with the baptism itself because the font here doesn't fill up super deep, so it made it a fun time for baptizing the Campbells. Mike had to go down three times and Jenn got it on her first time, and then they both bore their testimony after they were baptized. It's always wonderful to have new members bear their testimony right after their baptism so others, especially family members, can hear what they know to be true and how they came to know it. They were baptized by a member in the ward here that knows them pretty well and everything went pretty well. 

 

This is going to be a bad email just letting you know. I don't really remember this last week, so sorry about that. But yesterday we were able to be on exchanges with the Assistants in their area and it was wonderful! It was a long drive up there and back because they are up by the mission office, but it was worth it. I was with one of my favorite people ever and we were able to do a lot of work. Super awesome missionaries and we just had a ton of fun doing some service, talking with tons of people, and tracting. Tons of miracles happened yesterday and it was so much fun. 

 

Oh ya, we also had interviews with the mission president which is always a good time. Such an amazing man with so much knowledge. President and Sister Brown are amazing. 

 

Still sorry that this is short, I might get on later today and email some more, just depends on how much time we have. 

 

Love Elder Woodward

 

 

Youngstown, Ohio - November 1, 2017

Alright, well this week was probably one of the fastest weeks on my mission so far. Between last Wednesday and today, we had two exchanges, some service, some good teaching opportunities, church, more good teaching opportunities, Halloween, lots of good food, and mission leadership council. The only bad news from this last week is the fact that it went from the 60's/70's to the 40's overnight, and it has been raining just about every single day, but I guess that's pretty normal for when winter comes. It has made it an interesting week, but it's always good. 

The service that we were doing over this last week was mostly just raking leaves, but there were a lot of them. We talked with a less active member that neither of us had met before and we asked him if there was anything we could help him with, and he said he needed help raking up his yard which was pretty big, and it's just him and his wife and their almost 2 year old daughter and 6 dogs. So we went back last week to help him out and one day we did the front yard, and then on exchanges Elder Klinglesmith and who he was with went back and helped in the back yard. After they finished on Friday, the member really opened up to the elders about things in his life and why he hasn't been at church and his family. He is a really cool guy and the service we were able to offer really helped him to open up. But as for me on exchanges, we were able to see a few people and then ended the night helping a family move out of their apartment. Since I've been here, we've helped two families move out, but luckily one was just moving from our area to the sisters area, so they are staying in the ward. The other family moved down to Alabama.

The other exchange I went on was on Monday, and that day made me appreciate having the opportunity to stay in the states on my mission. Every so often, there is a missionary that is supposed to go to another country but is not able to get their visa before they leave, so they have to be reassigned temporarily until the visa comes. On Monday, I was with one of these elders that is waiting to go to the small country of Suriname in South America. He was telling me all about the country, and there is so much crazy stuff down there. They have the worlds largest spider, the worlds most poisonous spider, ten of the most poisonous tree frogs, anacondas, piranhas, and alligators all over the place down there, they have to sleep in mosquito nets, they're always wet from the rain, humidity, or sweat, get woken up in the mornings by howler monkeys, there's a bunch of rare species of birds, and I'm sure there's a lot more than I was told. It would definitely be the experience of a lifetime, but I would not survive down there, especially with how big those spiders are. Freaks me out just looking at the pictures of them. I am so glad that I got the special blessing of staying in the states for these two years instead of fearing for my life every day, but it would be fun down there. We were able to do quite a bit of work on exchanges, mowed a lawn, taught quite a few lessons, had the best home made fried chicken I have ever had before, and just had a blast all day long. Exchanges with so many different missionaries is also part of the reason that every week is going by so fast, just because you get to work with so many different elders and get to learn and grow from each one. 

Yesterday was Halloween, but if it weren't for the idiots dressed up as idiots than I would have completely forgotten. Holidays on missions are strange just because they feel like any normal day, but to the rest of the world everything gets put on hold. Just not for missionaries. It's kind of hard to do missionary work on Halloween because President Brown doesn't want us out tracting when people are trick or treating for obvious reasons, so during the time when people are doing that we kind of have to figure out something else to do. Luckily for us, we had Mission Leadership Council and it just happened to fall on yesterday, so we were up at the Mission office for most of the day. For MLC, all the zone leaders and sister training leaders meet with the mission presidency to talk about the needs of the mission and what we will be teaching at zone conference, and then continue to learn how we can be better leaders. It was amazing to be in a meeting with so many amazing missionaries and learning from each other. One crazy thing about the mission is that 47% of the missionaries in this mission have been out for less that 3 full transfers, so we just have an extremely new mission. Puts a lot of pressure on us as the leaders because if we don't do something the correct way, then all these new missionaries aren't going to learn correctly. It's also a great thing with so many new missionaries because of the greenie fire that they bring. They all want to get to work and work hard, so it's been great for the mission. But we left at 9 in the morning yesterday and didn't get back into our area until 6:30, so most of the day was gone which was nice. 

The Campbell's are doing awesome! We've still been meeting with them and they are so excited for their baptism this weekend. We've just been going over a few things with them to review and getting everything worked out for the baptism, but it is still going to take place this weekend. We had a cottage meeting/fireside at a member from the Stake Presidency's house who is actually in the Alliance ward, and everyone from Youngstown was invited because they live closer to the church in Youngstown than they do the one in Alliance. The Campbell's were at it and it was all about the temple which is their goal to make it there one day. They were also talking with other members and said that they would love to have us over there every day to be able to talk with them and teach them more and more. It's so amazing that they know of the importance of the Gospel and are loving it all!

We've also found a few people to teach, but no real updates on them yet. I'll let you know more about them if we keep meeting with them. Pray that it warms up a little bit and the snow holds off. And remember to send me stuff in the mail so I don't forget that I have friends at home...

Love Elder Woodward

Youngstown, Ohio - October 25, 2017

Well hello there! Before I forget, I'm going to send my new address so no one has an excuse to not send me anything:

 

1917 Youll St #20

Niles, OH 44446

 

It feels like it's been forever since just last week, but things have been going really well here in Youngstown. Just a little more information from transfers last week so you know what's going on out here. If you didn't get it the last time, I got transferred up to the Youngstown Ward as a Zone Leader and Elder Coppieters stayed behind back in Alliance now that his training is done. His new companion's name is Elder Parra and he is actually from the Dominican Republic. It's only about a 45 minute drive from my last apartment to this one, so it's not that far away. As a zone leader, we might get to go on exchanges with the Alliance elders. We are supposed to go on an exchange every week and we are supposed to go with all the district leaders in the zone, but there's only four district leaders and six weeks a transfer, so there will be two other companionships that we go with, so maybe the Alliance elders. Not sure yet. My new companion is Elder Klinglesmith and he is from Roy, Utah. He's the oldest of three kids in his family, so pretty much a normal sized family, not like us even though we are awesome! He's got two transfers left, so I'll most likely be his last companion. We only cover about an eighth of the ward and there is a set of sisters in the ward that covers all the Pennsylvania side of the ward and some of the Ohio side. It's good though because we have a lot of work to be doing and not a lot of time to be doing it! I have been in Youngstown a couple of times on exchanges the last couple of transfers, and the first few days still felt like it was just an exchange and not my real area. Youngstown itself is about the size of Ogden, but it just has a big downtown area, and we also cover the cities of Girard, Niles, and Austintown. The ward is a typical size for Ohio, lots of older folk, but also some young guns in the area, so there's a good mix. It's going to be fun out here, I'm just glad I'm not right on the lake like I was for last winter. Oh, and we have a truck instead of bikes. Before you ask, no, we have not got in a wreck yet. 

 

As for the rest of the week, we had a little bit of an unexpected adventure. We got a call from the Mission President telling us that there were some elders in the zone that had a baptism but didn't fill out any of the paperwork for the baptism, and the missionary that did the interview had been transferred to another area without ever signing the baptismal record. So on Friday we had to drive to meet one set of elders half way (luckily it wasn't too far away) and have the one that did the interview sign a record, and then on Saturday we had to drive half way to the elders that had the baptism to give them the record so they could get it all filled out and set up to the mission office. So lots of craziness during my first couple of days here. We also had exchanges on Saturday, so after only being here for a few days I was taking over the area and trying to get work done still even though I didn't know where the crud I was or where I was going. It was fun though. Going to be strange going on exchanges every week, sometimes twice a week depending on what's going on because we go with the assistants and we also have to go with our district leader in his area. 

 

I don't even remember what my last update in Alliance was about, but it wasn't fun having to say bye to everyone there. You live somewhere for only six months but just learn to love everyone there and then in just a few days you are gone. Luckily, I'm not that far away and so at stake conference in February I will get to see a lot of them again, so that's a bonus for still staying in the east part of Ohio. Hopefully Brad continues to progress and is able to be baptized in December, and hopefully the work goes well in that area as well. 

 

As for Youngstown, the work here is going well. We helped a family (the elders quorum and relief society president) move on Thursday, can't remember what we did on Friday, had exchanges on Saturday, church Sunday in a new ward, and I also can't remember what we did Monday or Tuesday. We have two people, Mike and Jenn Campbell who are preparing to be baptized next Saturday the 4th of November. They were a referral from a long time ago, met with missionaries but it just wasn't the right time for them, but they never stopped reading the Book of Mormon. Mike has read the entire thing over 20 times and read the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price 4 times all just since February. They decided they wanted to meet with the missionaries again and referred themselves and said that this time is just feels different and they are ready to be baptized. They are already preparing to go to the temple even though that's a little down the road, but from what I've heard they have made some incredible changes. They have already had their interview and are good to go, we are just waiting for next Saturday to roll around. It was going to be this upcoming Saturday, but the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader are both going to be out of town so it was decided to push the baptism back. There's a few other people that we are working with, one of them being a ten year old daughter of some less active parents in the ward and the daughter, Kyra, and her mom were both at church on Sunday which was the first time that they had been there in a very long time! Things are going really well here and there's a ton of less actives that we see as well. Still getting some time in to go tracting, but it's been a good first week. We've got a lot going on this week as well starting with a Trunk-or-Treat tonight, so it's going to be great! Can't really think of anything else to type, so I'll just end it here :)

 

Love,

Elder Woodward

 

In case you have already forgot, or just as a reminder, the address once again is 

1917 Youll St #20

Niles, OH 44446

Also throwing this in here because a member said it last night in a lesson we had and I loved it: 
"God does the impossible when we do the possible."

 

Here's some pictures for you since I haven't sent any in a while and actually took some last week:

--At the temple with Brother Fisher

--Part of the Davis family (the picture describes them perfectly)

--The Virdens after dinner at Texas Roadhouse

--Last time with all the Fishers

--Last district meeting in Alliance

--Elder Klinglesmith and I like ten minutes ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alliance, Ohio - October 17, 2017

Hey everyone, just got back from the temple and don't have a ton of time to email, so just updating you all on transfer news. I'm going to be staying in the stake and getting shipped up to the big city of Youngstown to be a Zone Leader up there. Still just continuing my trek out further and further east, but not by much this time around. Sad to be leaving Alliance and had to say lots of goodbyes, but it is what it is. My new companion is going to be Elder Klinglesmith and he only has two transfers left, so I will likely be his last companion and killing him off. I'll make sure to include some pictures next week and the next email will be a lot longer, just don't have time like I said. Love you all!

 

Elder Woodward

 

PS I played the organ in church as well and everyone loved it. Too bad I wasn't doing it sooner.

Alliance, Ohio - October 11, 2017

Ok well I don't have a ton of time because I was emailing a bunch of other people instead of writing this big group email. Time management is not one of my strengths. But this last week went by way too quickly. Last week we kind of had a district activity and went to the find the steeple in the church building and had to do some exploring, and there's a picture included of us under the steeple. Also, notice my awesome Hawaiian shirt that was completely free that I decided to wear. 

 

We had zone conference last week and it was sooooo good! Last time it was more just of a review of a lot of things, but this time there was a lot of good stuff that we learned and went over. Last time around, President Brown challenged all the missionaries to memorize the Living Christ, and I actually did it and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was to do. Such an amazing document with so many things you can learn from it. If you haven't read through it recently, I would suggest that you do so!

 

When the weeks go by as fast as they do, it's hard to even remember what we did. We had exchanges yesterday with the Rootstown elders and Elder Runger and I did some service (and included some pictures) of raking some leaves at the Fishers and then of course lighting them on fire. That was a fun experience because we didn't have matches or a lighter, just gasoline and we had to find a way to start it. Had to use what little brains we have to figure out how to do it. Luckily we did as you can see in the pictures. 

 

So last week since Brad had a warrant out for his arrest, he finally decided to get it taken care of from five years ago. He was scared to death of what might happen, like him going to jail for an unknown amount of time, but all that he has is some community service and a fine he has to pay, and then a pre-trial at the end of November. So the community service needs to be completed and the fine needs to be paid before he can be baptized, so we had to move his date back to the beginning of December. I most likely won't be here for it since transfers are next week which is kind of disappointing, but it will be better for him to wait a little bit and be more prepared. He was been doing well with everything lately, just a little relapses here and there with smoking, but only smokes one cigarette and feels bad for it. He's feeding us dinner, so we are going to be seeing him tonight. 

 

Just a reminder that next week is transfers, so we are going to be emailing on Tuesday instead of Wednesday, but it will be later in the day because we are also going to the temple. If anyone was planning on sending anything in the next couple of days, send it to the mission office so we can be sure that I get it! Here's the address: 25002 Westwood Rd, Westlake OH 44145 and I will update you with my new address after I get there if I do get transferred!

 

Since this is a shorter email I put some pictures in there because they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so just imagine a few thousand more words on this email ;)

 

Love ya!

Elder Woodward