WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!?

  Olá!! Okay. I´m in Portugal. Like what? Also I can´t figure out this keyboard so I´m using accents as apostrophes. yolo. 

   On to the important schtuff. So my first area is Leiria! it´s north of Lisbon and super beautiful. it is the picturesque Portuguese city. Out our window we have a real nice view of a castle, so that´s fixe!  My companion is Sister Corrêa and she is the cutest little Brazilian I ever did see! She likes chocolate, sharing scriptures over the phone, and working until the last possible minute of the day. So needless to say, she´s a freaking champ. The fact that she doesn´t speak that much English and I speak like no Portuguese is a slight problem but oh well! TUDO BEM! 

   This week has been the craziest of my life. But I love Portugal! The ward here is so sweet and I already love them. I bore my testimony in church yesterday and it was great. I try to talk to everyone in the ward and they are all really patient and kind. And kissing (on the cheeks of course) and hugging are a big deal here. There is no such thing as personal boundaries. Even with strangers! So that´s fun! And I can´t understand like anyone. The accent here is really hard to understand even for Sister Corrêa because they don´t like to finish their words. i´m lost the majority of the time and bear my testimony A LOT. So that´s fun. :) One day i´ll understand! #babystepstoportuguese

   I love being a missionary. It is not easy and i´m on my knees more here than ever before in my life, but that is never a bad thing. I know that Heavenly Father is preparing people here for the gospel. 

   Talk to you all next week! I love you and pray for you cada dia! 

beijinhos!! 

Sister Wood

  ONE DAY MORE. I'm going to Portugal AMANHÃ!! I'm way nervous/anxious/EXCITED/STOKED/HAPPY/MORE THAN READY TO NEVER EAT MTC FOOD AGAIN. Seriously, it is awful. I'm pretty sure I had an intestinal virus that was going around for a while. I can't freaking wait to eat bolo, bacalhau, e pão em Portugal (cake, cod, and bread HOLLA).  

   So I had to give a talk on faith in Jesus Christ and the Atonement yesterday in sacrament meeting, in Portuguese of course. It was actually a great experience and i'm super glad I got to speak on my last Sunday here. The MTC has been so good! Like way better than I was anticipating. I feel like I've begun to tap into all that Heavenly Father wants me to learn on the mission. While here, my relationship with Jesus Cristo has grown more than i ever expected.  I'm starting to understand the power of the Atonement more fully and actually use it every day to turn more fully to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  The Holy Ghost has touched my heart and brought experiences to my remembrance that have reinforced my conversion and helped it grow some more. I am SO GRATEFUL to be here! But I'm so excited to actually start serving!  I'm ready to give everything I've got to Portugal and the Lord.  The last line of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing has been ringing in my ears the last couple days - "Here's my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above."  I'm giving my heart to the Lord. My life is consecrated to Him and His work.  It is such an honor to be a representative of our Savior!  He is always with us, Every step- if we let Him! 

   D&C: "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." 

   I love our Savior Jesus Christ.  I know He lives. If we trust Him, He will bring us more joy and light than we can comprehend. The world needs to know Him! I'm one lucky duck to be a missionary!! :) 

   Well, that's about it haha. I hope everyone is having a great week! Eu amo voces! 

Peace&Blessins,

Sister Wood 

 Comps and Brother Nothum her teacher

 the district

Bom Dia!!

How is everyone? 

   So in a week from today I'll probably be going through security or something at the SLC Airport. Wooooo! We got our travel plans on Friday and I'm so excited. My whole zone is together and the traveling is going to be nutz. First we fly to Fort Worth, then London, then on to Lisboa! I'm really excited and super nervous and anxious haha. But mostly stoked. I can't speak Portuguese but it's going to be okay!

    For TRC on Friday we got to Skype with a lady in Porto. In case you are unfamiliar with what TRC is, I will tell you. For the last four weeks in the MTC we get to chat with and teach members in Portuguese. The first two lessons are with volunteers who come here, and the second two lessons are with people in Portugal or Brazil via Skype. It's way cool! Her name is Raquel and she served with one of my teachers in Lisboa. She told us our Portuguese was good and I just laughed haha. Ela é MUITO engracada. It was really uplifting to chat with her about the gospel and it made me way more excited to go to Portugal.  She told us the sky is bluer there. :) 

   I've been thinking a lot about the people in my life. I think about all of God's children who have ever lived or who will ever live. That number is incomprehensible for my brain. I think about all the people I know, and all the people He has placed in my life. That number is quite small in comparison to the millions of brothers and sisters we have in our spiritual family! OF COURSE Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us individually. He gives us opportunity to meet, love, and serve a small handful of His children specifically. What a blessing that is! He knows who we need to meet in this life in order to help us learn and grow. The people we come in contact with are not a coincidence! Therefore, I want to say THANK YOU for all each of you have done, probably without even knowing it, to help and teach me. I love you and am tremendously grateful for you! I thank Heavenly Father every day for you! 

    Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! My next p-day is on Monday so yay! 

-Sister Wood 

Funny of the week: So remember how I wink a lot? Well, that little habit did not go away the moment I stepped foot into the MTC like I hoped it would. At first it was kind of an issue, but then I just decided to accept it. I wink at everyone. IT IS HILARIOUS. Also my teacher winks at me like four times a day. I love winking! 

HELLO!!! 

   Week four of the MTC has been a good one! Basically we do the same thing every day but it's so good. And so fun! Lots of hilarious things happen all the time. Like the other day my companion peed her skirt and yes I'm still laughing about it right this very second. I think that I'm just appreciating more the funny things that happen that I may not have thought were funny before. And like, I'm really happy. Happy to be here doing what I'm doing. So laughing happens!! 

   I only have two weeks left in the MTC! Unless my visa hasn't come yet lol. But none of us have heard anything about visas so we're just kind of assuming that all is well and that in two weeks from now we'll be on our way to Lisboa. I'm so excited!! 

   I have shocking news.. my district thinks I'm CRAZY. haha who's shocked? No one. My companions are always like "Sister Wood, we're glad that you can just be yourself and not care what other people think." And my teacher is always saying that he's not laughing AT me, just WITH me. It's way fun. Seriously the Elders give me SO MUCH SASS. But I give it back because sass is my talent. I don't want to bury my talent! 

   So I've been studying a lot about grace. I've read some talks in the last few days about the grace of our Savior and how we can use His Atonement not only to repent of our sins, but also to improve ourselves and have the strength to overcome trials. The grace of Jesus Christ is not just for when we can't do anymore. It's not for when we are at the end of our rope. It is for EVERY DAY, all the time, in all we do. Jesus Christ's Atonement is never ending. We can use it all the time! And through it we can do all things the Lord asks us to do. I feel like I have to remind myself of this all the time.  Through Jesus Christ and because of Him life is SO GOOD! :) How lucky are we to know of Him! 

   Portuguese update: It's coming, slowly but surely. Conjugation is actually THE PITS. But really, I know Heavenly Father is helping me so much. I get really frustrated sometimes because there is so much I want to say that I simply can't. But then I get over myself and look at all that Heavenly Father has already helped me learn. And I'm so grateful! And I'm working on patience. :) (PMG pg. 120) 

   That's about it! I love you all a ton, and pray for you every day. THANK YOU for your examples and love! 

-Sister Wood 

Fun Facts..

-I've had the song What A Night stuck in my head for the past week. Literally. Is that baaad dooododoodooo

-I see Alexis and Kenzee all the time and it rocks

-Madeira. You know, like the island in my mission? Well, Madeira means wood! Irmao Lemperle calls me Sister Madeira. I have an island. 

Talks and Vids that are good: 

"In the Strength of the Lord" by Elder Bednar

"His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox

...and on Youtube search "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit: Advice from Elder Busche" 

All are great!! 

the flirting situation

This is just an excerpt from the most recent letter I got from Carley.  So, Sisters, beware!  HAHA soooo funny!  I share this only because it is funny to me, not because I  am really worried about it.  Old habits die hard for some!

"Mom, the flirting problem here is REAL!  I don't flirt...but the Elders...Holy Cannoli.  It's not so much the Elders in my district, but sometimes with them I'm like WHOA, STOP!  But I love them and I know they don't mean to flirt.  I think it's an 18 year old boy thing.  At the Sunday Devotional the other night, we met a guy who was in one of the Mormon Message videos.  Anyway, so I talked to him before the devotional and then throughout the rest of the evening he proceeded to look back at me and wink and be super weird. Also, the flirting going on around me at meals is crazy."

She goes on to talk about how wonderful the MTC is and how much she is learning!

HALF WAY through the MTC

Hello!! 

   So I'm half way done with the MTC. What is that? So weird. I feel like I've been here my whole life but it's been good! :) This past week has been great. Ya know, just sitting in nine hours of class every day trying to teach in a language I don't know. there is never a dull moment! Mom- I told my zone and one of my teachers (Irmao L, the dreamboat) about the CPR bunny incident. You are a hero. It's one of the funniest stories of my life! 

   On Friday we had our first TRC lesson. Which basically means we got to talk to members about the gospel and stuff in Portuguese. It was seriously so much fun! It was such a tender mercy, the whole time I was able to speak and understand Portuguese as if it were English. The Lord is truly blessing me with the language. I'm still learning slow, and some days are better than others. But I know that as I continue to work hard and have faith that I will eventually be able to speak Portuguese! 

   In one of our lessons the other day we were teaching about the Restoration. I was able to recite the account of the First Vision in Portuguese, and the Spirit was incredible! I really can't say much in lessons. But I know how to testify, and bearing my testimony has truly strengthened it! I love Portuguese. Even though it's super hard haha. My brain is like a pile of English/Portuguese mush haha. Tudo bem! 

   So I seriously love my companions. They help me so much. But it is like herding cats! They are the queens of Lolligag Kingdom and it kills me. Getting out the door every morning is a struggle, but eventually we get where we need to be. #smallvictories 

   I'm learning a lot about conversion. Conversion isn't a one time thing, it's a life time thing! I'm so so grateful that every day I can come closer to my Savior. This gospel is about progress, and trying our best every day to follow Jesus Christ so that we can gain all the Father has. I'm very grateful that I can be better today than I was yesterday. I was studying last night about the power God has in all things. He is perfect and knows all. And it just hit me that He truly does want us to have all that He has! Because He LOVES us!  He has given us a way to return to Him, and that is through the Atonement of His Son. I love the gospel and this beautiful opportunity I have to be a missionary! 

Love you and miss you! 

-Sister Wood 

 

PS: Sheri Dew came to Relief Society on Sunday, so THAT RULED. 

Also our Zone Leader, who actually left this morning to Boston while he waits for his visa, knows Elder Marse! Apparently Kenny served in his ward for like six months. So that was cool! 

And I miss roller skating. I sing What A Night a lot. YOLO

MTC life

Family!   

  How is everyone doing? How is the house coming along? I'm gonna write some letters today so yeah be excited for that! :) 

  The MTC is still a really fun and enjoyable experience! I've only been here for two weeks but it feels like ten years. I'm learning so much, and also seeing that I have SO MUCH to learn. But that's good! It's a blessing that we can always progress. And like my district rocks. We have lots of fun and giggles and stuff. 

  Portuguese is MUITO difficile. I'm learning, but very slowly haha. I get frustrated sometimes, but I know that if I do my best and be patient that the language will come. Heavenly Father will bless me with the gift of tongues if I work for it! 

  The food.. oh what to say. I love the cookies way way too much. WHAT IS THAT?! It's an issue. 

  Okay so my teachers are Irmao N and Irmao L.  They are GREAT. They expect a lot from us and push us hard, but it's good. I'm grateful for them.  But here's the issue: Irmao L is like OMG SO GREAT. Holy cannoli. He was our first investigator, then we found out that he is also our teacher! So for the first week we only had one teacher and had no clue that our investigator would become our second teacher.  Let me tell ya, class can be ROUGH.

    Something I'm learning in the MTC so far is that the Lord does not expect me to be perfect.  This is so hard for me to remember, I think I expect perfection from myself. In teaching, in Portuguese, in everything.  I set my standards high because I don't want to waste the Lord's time. But something Irmao L shared with us made me pause and think a little differently. We read a quote by Elder Cecil O. Samuelson that says "Just as we should not lower the standards that the Lord has established for the conduct of His servants, we are also not authorized to raise them...Be sure that you do not have higher standards for yourself or others than the Lord has established." This really hit me. In the MTC so far, it's like a huge light has been shining on all my weaknesses. It motivates me to try harder and rely on the Lord, but I still fall waaay short all the time. I have successes, and I have many failures. I get frustrated and down on myself. BUT, the Lord does not expect me to be perfect. He doesn't expect any of us to be perfect! We are not on this earth to gain perfection. We are here to try our best and rely on the Lord in our many moments of weakness. Through our humility we can be tools in the hands of our Father in Heaven. I know that as long as I am worthy and willing, the Lord will help and guide me through!

  Anyway, I love you all so much! Have a great week! 

-Sister Wood 

Things I've learned about Portugal: 

-Apparently there is fresh bread and cake on like every street corner. One of the teachers here gained 40 pounds. OH NO

-The Azores have some French influence in the Portuguese they speak there. So that's pretty cool! 

-They eat cod like nobody's business. It's a funny word in Portuguese so the natives test you on your pronunciation of the word. Apparently if you can say codfish in Portuguese then you are on the right track!