Lakewood, Ohio - April 28, 2017

Alright, so this email is gonna be quick given that it is currently 5:17 and it's preparation day so that means only 40 minutes. But I promise my next email on Tuesday (because of transfers) will fill you in on all the good stuff that has happened these last two weeks. 

 

We just got back from the temple and it was amazing! It was a packed house in there and there were a bunch of other missionaries there as well. If only every session was a sell out and they have to set up extra chairs. 

 

We got a car for reals this time. And no, I didn't crash it in 15 minutes like the last one. It's a nice Ford Fusion, but we've been having problems with it. The battery just keeps dying on us and there is no reason why it should be. The lights are all off outside the car and they are all off inside the car, so we were told to take it to a Firestone to get the battery checked out and they said that they battery was pretty much brand new and was testing way above what it needs to be. They said to make sure to unplug the GPS when we stop driving because it might just be sucking power out, so we did that and then today right before we came over to the church it was dead again. So we don't really know what's happening with it. We got it Monday right after zone conference so we've had it for a couple of days now. It makes life a lot easier. We didn't just lock up the bikes though. Now we just drive a little bit with the bikes on the bike rack and then take 'em off and bike around, then drive home at night. 

 

Zone conference was different, but good. And we had exchanges with our zone leaders which was amazing. I'll give you more details next week when we have more time to email, but just letting you know about that. We met with a couple of referrals and had good lessons and set up return appointments, and then one guy, who is in his 20's and should be able to make decisions for himself, his mom told us not to come back because they are Catholic. So that was a bummer, but it was good to know.

 

It is now 5:35 and I think it's the fastest I've ever typed up a letter for you. I've said it like ten times, but next week will be a lot longer of an email with some pictures. 

 

Love Elder Woodward

Lakewood, Ohio - April 19, 2017

Next week, don't expect an email on Wednesday because we are most likely going to be going to the temple next week. But still email Tuesday night just in case our trip gets cancelled so I will still have something to read. But we should be able to email next Friday when we get back from the temple. Since it is out of the mission, we use our preparation day to go, but we can move preparation day to the day that we get a ride down to the temple, so that is going to be next Friday. So if there isn't an email on Wednesday, don't be worried or think that I got killed. It will come on April 28th. 

 

This week went by really fast! We were able to do some service at our Bishop's house yesterday, and were treated with the best sugar cookies in the world! The Bishop's wife has a killer recipe that she won't give to anyone that the cookies will stay good for weeks without doing anything to them. She gave us some cookies that she had made the week before and they were as soft as ever and you never would have known that they came from the week before. She hurt her back so we were helping her do some yard work (which she loves) and mowing her lawn. Just for you mom, I mowed a big section of the lawn since I can't do it at home this year. There was a huge tree that had been blown over in the big wind storm from a couple weeks ago, so an elder from the Dominican Republic went to town hacking it apart with a saw and an axe. There wasn't much left of it after a while, and then we got to burn a whole bunch of sticks that were in their yard. We were burning for a solid three hours and filled the fire pit up. So much was burned. 

 

In case you haven't been able to tell in my last 15 letters from this area, we have been doing a lot of knocking on doors, and there hasn't been much come from it lately. We have years and years and years of former investigator sheets in multiple binders, so we decided we were going to go through all of the binders and every former investigator that didn't have a reason why the missionaries stopped teaching them, we were going to go visit them, and anyone else that we felt like we needed to go visit again. If they still lived there, we were going to see if they would be interested again, and if they didn't answer, then talk with their neighbors to see if they still lived there. Pretty much go and see someone and then work in that area for a little bit to see if someone else in that area might be prepared for the Gospel. We haven't gotten too far on our list of people, and most of them haven't been home, so we are keeping track of it all and figuring out when we can finally catch them at home. It's a lot of work, but we have decided to try something new in this area instead of just knocking on doors. We've also got a couple of referrals this week, one that we will be seeing tonight and one tomorrow, and I honestly think it's because we are putting forth this extra effort to find all of these former investigators. We never used to get referrals but now they have started to come. Diligent effort brings good things to us! We are also going to be going to see the guy we met a couple of weeks ago that also meets with Jehovah's Witnesses. It's the on-week that we can meet with him, so hopefully he has made some progress since last time. Not sure if the Jehovah's Witnesses will be there or not.

 

We had interviews with President Brown again this last week, and that's always a ton of fun. It's always a good reminder of things that we have been taught in the past but have forgotten. All he told me was to get members out with us, which we have been trying, but it isn't as successful as we want it to be. And next week we have zone conference followed by exchanges with our zone leaders. It will be the first time I've gone on an exchange with them the entire time I've been here. I think we just get forgotten and they don't have time for one companionship, so we haven't gone the last two transfers. Now is the time though.

 

Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the weekly update about Gary the Goose. We went to take a picture of him, and also got a video. If you turn it up all the way, you can hear him hissing at us as we got close. As soon as I stopped recording, he started to charge after me so I turned and started running the other way. BUT I got a picture AND a video as promised. Now we just stay clear of him and hope he doesn't come after us. 

 

Also, on Easter, the city of Lakewood turned into a Ghost Town. We were out walking around for an hour and a half and literally only saw three other people walking. It felt like a Sunday in Utah with everything being closed and not many people out driving.

 

Random piece of information about the mission: The mission is pretty much dying. In the June transfer, 13 elders are going home and only 1 is coming out. Only one! And then the transfer after that there are 5 more going home than coming out, so in 2 transfers we are going to be losing 17 elders, so there are some areas that are going to be closed down and (maybe) some extra cars to spread throughout the mission, so no more biking areas? I think it's a good idea to do that so nobody has to suffer.

 

Love,

Elder Woodward​

 

The fishing pier across the street from us and the sunset

The difference between Cleveland in the spring and winter

  

 

 

 

Lakewood, Ohio - April 12, 2017

This email is coming from the good old downtown Cleveland! Decided to change things up a little bit with preparation day, so instead of emailing at the church and playing basketball after, we are bumming downtown and using the library down here. Also because nobody was going to be at the church today to play basketball, it made sense. Going to spend most of the day around here, so it will be a good day today. Better than other big cities like Nashville...

 

So we had a wild goose chase this last week. The only thing is, we weren't trying to find anyone or chasing anyone down. And it's not really "we", it's more just me. We were biking to the church so we could have our ever wonderful district meeting, and when you aren't thinking about it, you don't remember about geese on the side of the road. So there I was, biking over the freeway overpass, and I realized that I was on the same side of the road as my good friend Gary the Goose, but at that point, it was too late to cross the road unless I wanted to get nailed by some cars. I was on the lookout for him as I was going down the sidewalk, and couldn't see him anywhere. I saw the other goose sitting in the nest like it normally is, and I was going downhill, so I thought I was going to be okay. Oh boy was I wrong. As I got a little bit closer, I saw him. The one and only Gary the Goose. He saw me and stared right into my soul, and then started booking it towards me. If there were Olympics for Geese, he would run away with the gold in the 100 meter dash. He had his 10 meter dash down in about 3 seconds flat. I have never seen a goose run, let along sprint that fast. He might have had a heart attack and died after that, I'm not really sure. We haven't gone past him since then. And the sad part is, as he got close with his mouth wide open ready to attack, I was a little scared for my life. I started to pedal as fast as I could so I didn't have a goose latched onto my leg as I was biking, or so there wasn't dead goose on the sidewalk. Either one would have been bad. 

 

There was an amazing sunset last night, but we didn't have our cameras so we couldn't take a picture of it. Sad day.

 

We did some service yesterday and also helped a member dye their hair. That was an interesting experience. Start loading up my calendar now, pretty much a professional already. I saw how it was done, so send everyone to me ;) 

 

We met with this guy that I told you about last week that meets with Jehovah's Witnesses. It was an interesting lesson with him. He said he is agnostic but also was raised believing in polytheism because he was born in Alaska and had a lot of Native American influences growing up. He told us he would pray to see if God is real, so that's some progress in this area! They almost came over at the same time that we were there, and this guy, Alex, kind of wants it to happen. He said it would be a religion pow-wow and he would record it. Don't know if it will ever happen though. 

 

Other than him, we are just knocking on doors having a blast all day every day! And the weather is nice so it makes it even better! A couple of days in the 60's and 70's, so things are looking good for the summer!

 

Love, 

Elder Woodward

Lakewood, Ohio - April 5, 2017

I thought we were coming out of the awful thing known as winter on a bike on Lake Erie in Cleveland, but apparently Mother Nature is angry because it is supposed to snow tomorrow night. Yes, you heard that right. It is going to SNOW. In April.  It's going to snow! Still can't get over it. But then Saturday it's supposed to be in the 50's again and Sunday it's supposed to be in the upper 60's, so all will be good. The terrible snow will be gone and (hopefully) it will be done for forever. 

 

I was going to type something here but can't remember what I was going to say. 

 

Lakewood is Lakewood. Still not a lot going on each and every day. There are so many more people here than there were in Tiffin, but nobody wants to talk to us or listen to us. Wilfredo was a fluke and we haven't seen him or heard from him or anything in quite some time. We had this goal to be knocking on doors for 20 hours last week, but then everything that could come up did come up and we also didn't realize that it was conference week when we made the goal. Thursday we had a packed day with appointments with less actives and then we started exchanges Thursday night by helping our ward mission leader move stuff out of his house, then we were on exchanges all day Friday so we weren't even in our area to knock on one door. I don't know if it's like this anywhere else, but Elder Gong told President Brown that for exchanges, both sets of missionaries need to be working in the district leader/zone leader's area, so we never do exchanges in our area. Sometimes it's a bummer because than any of the work and miracles you see, you don't get to see anymore of because then you are back in your own area. All is good though because we are still helping others come to the gospel!

 

Then on Saturday and Sunday we had the wonderful opportunity to watch Conference, and it was amazing. Elder Holland's talks are always super amazing, and same with Elder Bednar's from the Priesthood session and same with the guy with the cool accent that talked about seeing others as Christ sees them and loving every and same with everyone else that spoke. It was just all good. I was surprised at the temples announced in Saratoga Springs (don't even know where in Utah that is lol) and the one in Pocatello as well. Didn't see those ones coming.

 

We almost get randomly attacked by some Canadian Geese all the time. I decided to name him Gary for no particular reason. Every time we would pass him, he would get down low and pop out his wings and start hissing at us. I've never seen or heard a goose hiss before, but apparently that's what they do. And then if we got close enough to it, it would start to charge at us. We probably looked like idiots to everyone driving by that we couldn't walk past a goose on the sidewalk. We think the reason that it is always there is because it built its nest right off the sidewalk, so whenever anyone gets close, he is just being protective. And there might be a female goose with some eggs waiting to hatch, so good reason to attack people that are walking by. Maybe I will take my camera one day to get a video of my good friend Gary. 

 

We met some guy the other day that we have an appointment with on Friday. He also meets with the Jehovah's Witnesses, but he said he listens to everyone. It's a good thing we have the truth and they don't. 

 

Love Elder Woodward

 

PS I remembered what I was going to type up above. The red Nissan Rogue that I crashed two months ago is finally fixed and in the mission office parking lot. Too bad we still won't get a car to use in this ward :)