Elder Ian Woodward: Youngstown, Ohio

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