Youngstown, Ohio - February 28, 2018

Once upon a time in the land of Youngstown, Ohio, there lived two missionaries. Some members who will remain nameless decided they wanted to feed them one Thursday for lunch. Little did the missionaries know that the husband was sick with the flu, so they went over anyway. When they were eating the pizza that was prepared for them, they found out that the husband was the culprit, and he was the one that had prepared the food for them. They ate, didn't drink, and weren't merry and then went to go knock on some doors and nothing was wrong with them, until the next day that is. During their Friday Finding Frenzy, one missionary said to the other that he didn't feel too great, but they kept punching doors anyway. As they were driving to their dinner appointment on Friday, the one missionary that didn't feel well could really feel it. They walked into a nice home for sloppy joes on homemade bread, mac and cheese, cheesy potatoes, and some type of pie, but the sick missionary ignored all of that and went straight to the bathroom, and that's when the flu bug really started to take it's toll. As everyone was eating the wonderfully prepared food and having a good conversation, ZL2 was trying to keep the few bites of food down that he had taken. The members noticed there was something wrong, but couldn't quite put their finger on the problem. About half way through dinner, the not so good missionary asked if he could use the bathroom again because he really did not feel well at all. And then, as soon as he stood up, disaster struck! As the members were talking about how they thought he wasn't doing well, he was ignoring them and running to the bathroom so there wasn't any mess to clean up. He had made it a few steps, shoving the small children out of the way (there weren't really any small children, just put that in there to add some suspense), and that's when Sam the Stomach could not hold it in any longer! The rumblings and the tumblings were released in a very forceful manner, probably at world record velocity, and Morgan the Mouth and Harold the Hands could not keep Sam's anger back. He was going straight for the gold! Velma the Vomit shot out sideways from his hands and got on the walls, and then Sam the Stomach didn't quite get the gold, so he tried two more times with reduced effort and still didn't quite win the olympics. Dinner kind of ended right then and there and it was silent for a few minutes while the missionary went to the bathroom and the other missionary tried to keep his mouthful of food in his mouth and all his food in his stomach. That's when the members were finally to put their finger on what was wrong. Sister Rodgers gloved up like a champ and started to clean, and then the missionaries left when the sick one returned from the bathroom. Off they went to their apartment to go to sleep after that fun experience. And they all lived Happily Ever After. The End.

So that was actually a true story in case you couldn't tell. I typed that up on Saturday on our dumb phone because we were stuck inside all day long. I hope you appreciate it because it took a long time to type up and it's pretty good. No, I wasn't the one that sick, that would have been Elder Schwartz, but I sat in the same chair from about 8:30 in the morning until about 10:15 at night. Needless to say, it was a very eventful day.... I took a couple of naps, watched every single Bible video the church has made, wrote in my journal cuz I'm a few days behind writing in it, ate some food, took some more naps, wrote more in the journal, and mostly just tried not to get super bored, but all of that is super boring. So that was our Friday night after we had dinner because Sister Brown told us to go home because Elder Schwartz puked, and then Saturday as well because he wasn't feeling any better. Luckily for Sunday he was doing better so we were able to go to church and do some work then. 

It's been a sad couple of days. Haha not really, just some unfortunate things that have happened recently. Victor, our downstairs neighbor, is moving from our apartments. He got really sick of his apartment after only living there for a month because there's this weird ticking sound that apparently keeps him up at night and the management wouldn't do anything about it, so he's leaving. Luckily, he's just moving down the street so we are still going to be able to see him and he is doing great! He was at church again this week and he has been loving it. Loves reading the Book of Mormon, loves church, loves all the people there, so he's doing great. We went by him last Wednesday to make sure we could still come over that night, and then he made us come into his apartment and sit down and then he proceeded to talk to literally two hours. Remember how I said that everyone in Ohio talks a lot? Perfect example of it. We couldn't not get a word in, and even when we said we needed to go, he just kept talking. Gotta love it. But I really do love it here. 

We went on exchanges this last week with the Warren Elders and the missionary that I was with is just fresh outta the MTC. We had a good day and had lots of fun. Forgot what it was like to be with a brand new missionary because it's been a while since that has happened, but it was good. We've been having a lot of lessons and a lot of people to teach, just nothing is really standing out as I type. So ya. I think that's it. Peace out✌

Love Elder Woodward