Medina, Ohio - May 2, 2018

Well it has been a great week for us out here this last week. It's finally warmed up for sure after one last cold day (not sure if it's going to last), we had exchanges, and we got to go up to Kirtland with Frank! Since we emailed on Thursday, I guess I'll start with Friday and fill you in on what happened since then.

So we had exchanges on Friday with our district leader and it was a good time. It was nice outside and there was a lady that was moving out of our ward that we got to go and help in the morning, and then we treated ourselves to 5 guys afterwards. There weren't a ton of people there to help her move, but she just had a small apartment so there was the perfect number of people there with her and the four of us and her two sons that came from Utah and a member in the ward. Didn't take a super long time, and we got loaded up with food at the end of it from her freezer. Afterwards, we went to a nursing home and helped to scoop ice cream for the people living there. Every Friday, they give everyone ice cream, so we walk around throughout the halls and scoop it for them and old people are so great! I love them haha. Then in the evening, we started a Book of Mormon Study class at the church for anyone to come to and it had a slow start, but we're doing it every week so hopefully it gets rolling! There were a few people there and we were able to read the Book of Mormon and talk about it and ask questions and all learn from one another. It was a pretty good day.

But it was nothing compared to Saturday! It was supposed to be raining on Saturday and many prayers were said so that it didn't rain, and it didn't rain! It was just a bit chilly, but we took it over the rain. We also got to meet Frank for the first time (normally we just call him on the phone to have our lessons because he drives semi truck all over the place) and he is sooooo funny! We got to spend a day with him and he is full if so many good stories. We drove up to the Johnson Farm first for the spring festival, but it wasn't very spring like weather so not a ton of people were there. But we were there and that's what mattered! Since it was a spring festival, they did something a little different for the tour of the Johnson Farm. Instead of the sisters taking us through and describing the events that happened there, they had people dressed up as John and Elsa Johnson and some of their kids as well as Joseph Smith and they were telling their stories and the experiences that occurred there. It was an experience that not many people get, and the people we were there with really enjoyed it. We even went on the hay ride they had and almost froze, but got to go around on some the land they have out there. From there we hopped on up to Kirtland and almost made it to the temple for a tour, but they closed 5 minutes before we got there, so we went down to the visitor center and got a tour there. We were the only people there at the time, so our tour was not rushed at all. Normally there's a little rushing to it because there's another group not far behind you, but we had a lot more time than normal. My favorite part of the whole day was when we were in the School of the Prophets in the upstairs of the Newell K Whitney Store and since there was no one behind us, we just got to sit there. I don't know how long we were in there but, it wasn't long enough. We were talking about so many different things in there and the spirit there was so strong. Knowing of the significance in that room and then sitting there really was amazing. We were up in Kirtland for quite some time, but once again, it was a great time and good experience. Then we ended the night at Buffalo Wild wings, so a great way to end the day off, followed by church the next day.

Other than that, it's missionary work as usual. We just had a really really good weekend. We didn't have district meeting on Monday because it's already time for zone conference again, and that's tomorrow. Then we have exchanges with our zone leaders on Friday, so it's gonna be another good weekend. 

The birthday was good. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We just had a normal day of missionary work ahead of us, helped do some service at a members house, enjoyed the warm weather and got a little bit of sun. It was a good day, and we had bean burritos at a members house. But ya, it was a good day. Thanks again! Here's some pictures of our trip to Kirtland.

Love,

Elder Woodward

 

 

 

 

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 

 

 

 

Youngstown, Ohio - March 28, 2018

Well this last week was another week out here in Youngstown! It ended up being another good week so I was happy for it. We had zone conference last Friday and everyone else in our zone got their phones on that day and everyone was pretty excited. I would have been excited to if I didn't have my phone yet, but too late for that. For the most part, we just got to walk around and help all the other missionaries and answer questions they had about how to do different things on the phones and planning apps. It was a ton of fun like it is every zone conference. Kind of a repeat of MLC but it never hurts to hear something again. 

Thursday we had a really good day though. We were on exchanges with Lisbon and the elder that I was with and I had an amazing day. We saw a few people earlier in the day and we were able to see one of our investigators named Paula. She was a referral from a couple of weeks ago and when we went back she had read some of the Book of Mormon and liked what she read. I asked her if she had prayed about it and she said that she had and that she knew it was true. She is such a nice lady that has been doing well, so we are going to keep seeing her. Then later that day, when out tracting, we found 4 new people to teach in one day. Gave a book of Mormon to one guy, then taught his next door neighbor, then taught his next door neighbor, then we needed to go back to our car to get more copies of the Book of Mormon, and then two houses later we found two more people teach. It was just a blessed street to be knocking doors on. Had some more good lessons and all is well with them.

The rest of the week ended up just flying by and I'm not really sure what else happened. We had more exchanges and found more people to teach, so that's always good. Transfers are next week and I think I'm leaving, hoping I go back to Tiffin but not sure what's going to happen. I'll let you know next week when we email!

Love,

Elder Woodward

 

PS got one picture with three abandoned houses in it on exchanges Monday. Gotta love it!

 

Youngstown, Ohio - March 21, 2018

Well hello there! Life is going well for us out here in Youngstown. Just a couple of more weeks before transfers and who knows what's going to happen. We'll see what happens. Time is flying by now.

 

Speaking of time flying by, yesterday, March 20th, was my last triple digit day. I had 100 days left in Ohio yesterday, so today is day 99 remaining. Not that I'm counting, I just knew when it was. But Elder Schwartz decided that he wanted to celebrate me only having 100 days left, so we walked into Burger King and he bought 100 chicken nuggets. I have never seen so many chicken nuggets, and we just have a big bag in our fridge haha. He walked up to the counter to order and said, "This is going to sound really weird, but I need 10 10-piece nuggets" and the lady at the counter (who happens to be an investigator for some other missionaries) gave him a weird look and said "10 10-piece nuggets?" Needless to say, we got some extremely weird looks, but it was super funny. I got some pictures of them all, so you should be able to see them. Also, got a couple of pictures with some more abandoned houses here in Youngstown. Always a good day when you snag a few pics with empty houses. 

 

Also included in the pictures is our mission picture with Elder Christofferson and Elder Nielson when they came and visited on Saturday. It's not a very good quality picture, but if you look close enough and you remember what I look like, I am sitting on the very front row, far right, second from the end in my blue suit. So now you know where to look in case you couldn't find me before. And this time, we all got to shake both of their hands and it was sooooo good. In all reality, it was kind of sad because it was the last time that our mission was all going to be together in the same place at the same time, and we sang our mission song for the very last time as a whole mission. That was probably the saddest part because President and Sister Brown were up on the stand crying and just about everyone else there was tearing up. But we aren't really sure why we got to have a little meeting with Elder Christofferson, but he said that it is Heavenly Father's way of giving a benedictory prayer to our mission or something like that. So it was super cool to all be there. Really, Elder Christofferson was coming for the different leaders in the stake because they had meetings after our meeting was finished and then he met with the youth in all five stakes in our mission, we just got a little bonus first thing in the morning and got to meet with him. The Spirit was so strong there, especially as we were singing the mission song together. But it was a good day all around and there was a lot of good things that we learned. 

 

We actually had a pretty packed week and were able to teach some super good lessons. We found a new lady to teach who's name is Sereice. She let us right in and we were able to teach her, and she has been reading the Book of Mormon and loving it! She said that we were sent by God to help her get back into church. And she has three awesome kids that are the best thing ever. Exchanges are always happening and those are super good as well. Life is just so good. Zone conference is later this week and the rest of our zone is going to be getting their phones, so it's pretty exciting. All the missionaries are excited to get their phones so it'll be good. 

 

Enjoy the pics

 

Love, Elder Woodward