Medina, Ohio - April 26, 2018

Another week has come and gone and time is going by way to quick out here. Life is going good, it's starting to warm up, flowers are appearing out of nowhere, the trees are starting to get leaves, life is good. So far it's been a pretty good week, but gonna start out with the news for this week. On Sunday night, we got a call from President Brown which was random because he normally doesn't call unless we've done something wrong or someone died, but I knew we didn't do anything wrong and I was hoping that nobody died. But it wasn't either of those. Due to all the changes that are going on with the missions out here, he was calling to tell me that they are having to move transfers around to make it easier for everyone, so instead of my release date being June 28th like originally planned, it is being pushed a week earlier so I'll be coming home on June 21st instead. So out of nowhere, an extra week was gone. That's what the letter that is being sent to you is about, not sure if you have it or not yet, but that's what it's talking about. So hopefully you didn't have plans for that day or else your gonna have to cancel them or leave me sitting at the airport. Hopefully it doesn't mess too many things up.

 

Our investigator Harold dropped us last week so that was kind of a bummer, but we are for sure going to Kirtland this weekend and it's going to be so good! I'll save more details for next week so I have some stuff to write about, but we have been looking forward to it for a while. Oh, we are going with someone else we are teaching, Frank. I don't know if I told you about him or not, but it's going to be good. He drives semi truck so we call him and have lessons with him, but we actually get to meet him this weekend and go to the Johnson Farm and Kirtland. Gonna be a good weekend. 

 

And we just got done with visiting the temple, something we get to do every April and October. Not sure what will happen when the missions change, but that's how it is for us. We can do that for personal worship every 6 months, and if we go with people we are teaching then we can go once a quarter, and that's for the entire mission. Makes it nice to be able to go every once in a while. 

 

We've also been doing a bit of service either for members or the Salvation Army here in town and that's always fun. Raking leaves, starting to mow lawns, and the whatever the Salvation Army needs us to do. Gives us a nice change of pace when we do that, and it's a good way to find people to teach and bless others lives. We've been knocking on people's doors, having lots of dinners with members, talking with lots of people, and just doing missionary work! Life is fantastic out here! In case you forgot, here's my address again: 504 N State Rd #7, Medina Ohio 44256. Always looking for mail :)

 

I'll send pictures next week

Love, 

Elder Woodward 

Medina, Ohio - April 18, 2018

It's been another good week out here in Ohio and the work is moving along! The weather has been all over the place, but from what it sounds like it's been that way everywhere, so not too surprising. But the few good days we had out here gave everyone hope that we aren't going to be eternally in winter! We had a nice couple of days and were able to do some service for a member out here that needed some help cleaning up her yard, so since it was 70 degrees at 10 in the morning we got to rake up leaves and sticks and enjoyed the sun. 

And then the weekend hit. Saturday it wasn't super nice but not super bad and then Sunday it was raining. All. Day. Long. Not a ton of fun, but it was still good because being a missionary is always good. Needless to say, we were soaked by the end of the day, and when it finally stopped raining we got to visit with someone. We also found this super cool park that we went to and talked with some people there on Saturday before the rain started, and got some pictures there too. 

We've been doing a lot of finding, but haven't found much. But we are doing it anyway and having a good time talking with lots of people and hearing different peoples stories. We've been having a few lessons here and there, but not like before. It's good though! I love this area and all the people here. 

We get to go to the temple next week, so we won't be emailing until Thursday because that's the day we are going to the temple, so don't be alarmed if you don't get an email next week on Wednesday. Also, we are planning a trip to Kirtland with one of our investigators and that's going to be happening next Saturday the 28th, and that's something Elder Sargent and I really wanted to get to this transfer, and it's happening! Such a good place. There's really not much to report on besides that. Working on getting the area going and it's not going to be a short turn around, so bear with me on the shorter emails for the time being.

Love,

Elder Woodward 

 

PS just threw a cool little picture I found on Lds.org that show my mission is the coolest 

 

 

Medina, Ohio - April 11, 2018

Greetings from my last area in Ohio! Life is good out here, just like always. Got everything packed up my last days in Youngstown and all was good for transfers, except the 40 mile an hour winds all day! It was a crazy day and the wind almost blew me over a couple of times. Don't know where it came from, but it lasted most of the day so it felt about 18 degrees when we were out at night. Always a ton of fun. But hey, later this week it's supposed to be up to 75 degrees! We won't talk about what's going to happen after that, but the weather in Ohio is crazy. I'll leave it at that.

So on to my new companion. His name is Elder Sargent (Like I said last week) and he is from Tooele, Utah. He is the oldest of 4 kids, one younger brother and two younger sisters. He definitely wants to be in the Columbus mission, but he will probably leaving after this transfer because he has already been in the area for two transfers, so he could go anywhere and be in any mission, or he could stay for a while. This transfers gonna go by fast. This area is so much different from Youngstown in every single way. You got tons of pictures of abandoned houses when I was there, and in the week I've been here, I haven't seen a single abandoned house. It's a much nicer area with nicer neighborhoods all around, so it makes missionary work a little more difficult. The ward is pretty big. It's the biggest ward I've been in, and in the words of Elder Sargent and some of the members here, it's the most Utah-like ward out here. It was kind of weird going from Youngstown to here just because it is so different. I loved Youngstown and miss it, but this is a good area too. Getting me ready for Utah again because this area reminds me a lot of Utah. There's one other set of elders in the ward and we both have our own car, so that makes things nice. They used to have to share a car but since areas are getting closed down, cars are becoming available for other areas so they gave both sets their own car. There is a ward organist, so I don't have to play the piano or organ at all, and then there is a young man who can play. They don't know that I know how to play get, but eventually I'm sure they'll find out. We get fed here pretty much every night, so hopefully I don't gain too much weight before I go home. It's a nice area here, but a lot tougher than Youngstown.

We have a few people that we are working with that are moving forward. One guys who we are working with is Harold and he met with missionaries in Canton when he lived there and wanted to be baptized but had some problems with smoking and couldn't kick it. Then he had a heart attack, had to have triple bypass open heart surgery and realized that smoking was killing him, so he has quit and hasn't smoked since. He is in a nursing home right next to our apartment, so we are able to go and see him often and help him out. He is actually leaving the nursing home this weekend and will be living with his sister until he can find his own place to live. And then there's another guy that was excommunicated but is working on coming back and is close to getting baptized again that is super awesome. 

Medina is a slower area, but we are working hard. We've been doing a lot of tracting and found some potentials, but nothing yet. The area is slowly picking up and it's gonna be good. Gonna have a good time here and lots of work to do. We had interviews and a special training meeting with President and Sister Brown yesterday and they are soo good. Pretty much everything I thought I knew about planning needs to be thrown out the window and gotta relearn everything. It's going to be good and really move the work forward, but going to take some more adjusting to. They have a lot on their plates with everything going on, even more than normal, but they are the best people ever! Gotta love them.

Things are good. Life is great. Love it all.

Love, Elder Woodward

 

Oh almost forgot, my new address is 504 N State Rd Apt. 7, Medina Ohio 44256

So if you want to send me anything, now you can 😁

Youngstown, Ohio - April 3, 2018

 

Another week has come and gone here in Youngstown and there's lots of news. As you probably guessed by the subject line, I am getting transferred this week, leaving not only the Youngstown ward, but also the Youngstown Stake! Been in the same stake for 11 months and now moving on. My next area is going to be the West side of the Medina Ward in the Akron Stake, and my new companion is going to be Elder Sargent. He was the district leader out here when I first came to Youngstown, so we have been on a couple of exchanges and been around each before. He has been out a little over a year (for reals, he hit his year mark last month so really just over a year) and I know he is from Tooele Utah. Can't remember too much else about him, but that's some of the big news. Also, but news for Elder Schwartz, the sisters in our ward are being moved out (more on that later), so him and his new companion will have the whole ward as their area. It's going to be fun for him to have a massive area that he mostly knows nothing about. It'll be fun for him, but also good for me. I'm excited.

 

So to answer your question about missionaries coming to this mission, they actually aren't sending anymore missionaries to the Ohio Cleveland Mission because it's getting shut down. The transfer in February was the last real transfer we had, and the only missionaries coming to the mission were the Sisters going to Kirtland that already had their mission calls before the announcement was made. There is one sister coming out this transfer (today) and then one during the transfer in May, and other than that, no more elders or sisters coming here. So that is why the sisters in our ward are getting moved out because there are still missionaries going home, but none coming out, so they have to do some readjusting. And now that it's getting close to the change, missionaries are kind of starting to figure out what mission they are going to end up in as they move around. Most missionaries want to end up in the Columbus mission because it will still have Cleveland and also because it will have Kirtland. I don't think I've heard a missionary say they wanted to be in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, pretty much always Columbus. If I was out for any longer, I would want to be in the Columbus mission.

 

But holy cow General Conference was SOOOOOO good! It was an amazing conference, and it was even better because I'm still out here in Ohio! (PS did you all hear Elder Cook talking about Kirtland? That's right, pretty cool place) But the sad part is that it was my last conference on my mission. But conference is always great. The changes were all so cool, and the announcements of the new temples were awesome. I think the most surprising was Layton, and when he started to say Richmond Virginia, I thought he was going to say Utah and then I just would have died laughing. But he didn't. Okay, India and Russia were definitely bigger shocks than Layton, but still. 19 temples in Utah. Kind of ridiculous. President Nelsons talk in the Priesthood Session was super good, kind of roasted everyone, but still so good. One thing that I noticed was the emphasis they are putting on the youth. With Sister Oscarson's talk on how to use the young women more in the ward's and allowing them to be ministering companions, and then Brother Holmes in the Priesthood Session about using the Young men more. Both of those talks, along with the ministering announcement and the statement that Ministering is to help the Bishopric focus more on the needs of the ward, and then the youth were specifically mentioned. That's what stood out to me. But it was all so good! We watched it all at different members houses or at the church, but we did get to watch it all. 

 

This last week went by really fast though, mostly because General Conference took up the weekend. We had exchanges up in Ashtabula and that was a good time, got completely soaked up there out knocking on doors in the pouring rain. Always a good time. Sunday was kind of an interesting day, not gonna lie. We weren't sure if I was leaving and we knew we would find out Sunday night because President Brown would call to release me from being a zone leader. I guess he just really likes calling me late because it wasn't until about 9:50 that he decided to call. So it got to the point that I thought I was staying, and then as soon as I decided that, President called. Must think he's funny or something. JK I love President Brown. Then I just had to wait until Monday to find out where I was going. So yesterday wad a stressful day as well. But it's all good, now I just have to pack and hope and pray everything fits. Not quite sure how much stuff I've collected in this area, but it'll be good. I'll smash it in there if I need to. 

 

Got some pics with some people before I left, and those two are two of my favorite people in this ward. Gonna miss this place but it's the last transfer that I'm moving! I will probably be with Elder Sargent for only one transfer and then I'll get a new companion, but I don't know yet. We will find out. Saw some people, taught some lessons, found some new investigators, sad to be leaving Youngstown. It's been a good place. 

 

Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Woodward