Savior Redeemer of my Soul

Well hey there!

They were right when they said the last week of the mission is the
weirdest... I quite agree! But, it was also amazing.

Most exciting event- Terri got baptized on Saturday!!! What a miracle.
Her life truly has been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Come to
find out, she did a complete 180 with her life when we came by. The
Ward has taken her under their wing and they adore her. The turnout at
her baptism was amazing. Sister Lefebvre and I did a musical number
with Sister Keith on the piano :) her confirmation the next day too
was beautiful. What a great end to the week!

To rewind a little bit, we went on my last exchange on Wednesday with
some amazing sisters. I had sister Lamborn, a brand new missionary
with me and it was awesome. She's got such spunk and desire to serve
the Lord the best she can. The whole day she kept saying "I want to
just record you!". I hope my 18 months of experience helped her out a
bit! :)

Friday was the amazing because I got to go on the departing temple
trip!!! With all my wonderful mission friends who are going home too.
Wow I just love them all. It was so sweet to sit inside the temple and
just reflect on my mission and what's ahead. I know the Lord has great
plans for all of His children and His returned missionaries. I'm
terrified but I know I have the Lord on my side. After the Temple we
all went out to lunch at the famous Yellow a Dog Eats :) super fun!
The Keiths, one of my favorite families from the Ward, drove me down
there. I was super grateful to be with them!!

It's been an amazing last transfer of the mission. I'm so thankful for
my companion and for all the experiences I've had. I have such a hard
time explaining my feelings about my mission as a whole. It's been the
greatest experience of my life. It has shaped me into more of the
woman that I know the Lord wants me to become. In the process of
leading others to Christ I have been brought even closer to Him. That
is something I cherish the most.

I'll just close with- I know that my Savior lives. I know that this is
His church. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet that Jesus
Christ used to restore His church. I know that the Book of Mormon is
true. I've testified of this gospel everyday for the last year and a
half and I will continue to testify of it.

This is a truth that I've learned over and over again,

Matthew 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

The greatest joy comes in serving the Lord.

I love you all. See you soon :)

Sister Woolley

P.S. Keep me updated! Kwoolley1221@gmail.com

 Terri's baptism!

Departing missionary temple trip :)

I Love to See the Temple

Hey y'all!

First off, here goes my last week in the mission. How this happened? I
don't know. How has it been? The best thing of my life. Mixed
feelings? Yes.

This week was crazy awesome. So much goodness!

Something awesome was that we got to go to the temple twice this week!
Wednesday night we took a mob of our people there and it was amazing.
We had Nicole (who's been wanting to go for weeks), Terri (getting
baptized Saturday!!!), Bro. Potter (returning to activity), and the
Swisher family (AMAZING people). Also while there I got to see Bishop
Scherer from my last area!! That was really sweet :) they all just
loved the temple tour. Terri can't wait to go inside. And Jennifer is
set on getting sealed in there. Sister Keith drove us all up there and
it was just awesome. Sorry, I have trouble describing how I felt. Bro
Potter later said I was just BEAMING. I love the temple.

The second time was on Saturday with Venita! She got to go inside for
the first time and do baptisms. Aw that was so sweet. She took her own
family names and was especially excited to be baptized for her sister
:) when she went under the water the first time, and I swear
especially when she went under for her sister, I just felt his
overwhelming excitement and joy. I know they've accepted it. The
spirit was so strong and I couldn't stop smiling :) venita was so
happy to be there! I'm so glad we got to go.

Terri is doing fantastic too! Her baptism is on Saturday and she is so
excited. She's been coming to every activity there is and the Ward is
just wonderful at fellowshipping her. Tonight the lady FHE group is
having a combined birthday party for her, another woman in the Ward,
and sister Lefebvre!! Terri's birthday is today so we're pumped for
that. We get to teach the lesson of course too!

We were kind of struggling with our finding this week but yesterday we
set a goal for our "super Sunday" and Lo and behold, the Lord provided
for some AWESOME new investigators. Faith is a wonderful thing :)

Along the same lines, we had exchanges on Tuesday and I was down in
Palm Bay with a sweet sister. She was struggling a bit with faith so
we had a long discussion on it and then went out to work and holy cow
we saw the coolest miracles. Found some amazing people in their area
and in the process one of the woman we taught gave us a bag of melons
after we cleaned her dishes haha!

I'm so blessed to be serving here. I love this work and I love my
Savior. I'm eternally grateful for everything I've learned and gained
from this experience. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us
more than you know. Never forget that :)

Love you all!!!

Sister Woolley

 The group Wednesday night :)

With Venita at the temple! (There was a wedding happening behind us yay!)

"the gospel is like instant oatmeal, just add water and you have instant family!"

Hello hello dear people!

This week was non stop amazing. I just wish I could have a video
camera with us at all times as that'd be easier then trying to explain
all the goodness. Just know, that people are wonderful and God is the
BEST. I love Him.

An update on Terri, we had some sweet lessons with her this week. Last
Monday night we had her in a member of the bishopric's home for dinner
and they just LOVE her and were perfect for the lesson we had too. We
taught tithing which is a difficult one for some people but the family
had amazing testimonies they shared on the topic which helped so much.
:) we saw her throughout the week of course but then on Saturday
another member friend had her in their home for dinner again and
during the lesson the husband had an idea to take pictures of us to
put on the program for sacrament meeting Haha! So basically we felt
like we were in the District (missionary videos to help us learn how
to be missionaries, the best thing ever) and we had a good laugh about
it :)

Tuesday and Wednesday we just had lesson right after lesson ALL DAY
LONG which is awesome. And amidst our running around to lessons the
Lord is just giving us new people to teach. He knows what He's doing!!
Also on Tuesday we had interviews with our new mission president. He's
a sweet man and will do a great job here!

We went on exchanges with our sisters down in Vero Beach who are so
sweet. One of them has only been out for 4 weeks and the other this is
just her 3rd transfer. I took the older one up here to my area and we
had an awesome day. For one thing, we had a member's daughter who
wants to serve a mission, come out with us from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
HOLY COW. She was so great with our lessons though and just loved it.
By the end she was sunburnt, dehydrated, and tired but said she had so
much fun haha. But on that day we went to see a former investigator
and her husband and they let us in and we finally had a sit down
lesson with them. Later in the week she called us and said she thinks
she's finally ready to make the commitment of baptism! (She's been
investigating off and on for 9 years). We put them on date for baptism
Sunday night :)

A couple of other crazy events this week- we were going to an
appointment and ran across the street to talk to a woman with her baby
and turns out she was baptized 6 years ago and lost contact with the
church! we got her records in- another lost sheep found! And then on
Saturday we prayed with a member for someone to teach in her home and
then we drove down the street and found an amazing woman who just
soaked up everything we taught her about the gospel. She almost came
to church but her baby was crying so bad from teething that she didn't
come inside. Next week!

I probably say this a lot but it's so true- the Lord is in charge of
this work. It never ceases to amaze me that He places us right where
He needs us. He will put people into our lives who need what we have
and we need them. I have seen this time and time again.
D&C 75
"13...take their journey into the eastern countries, and proclaim the
things which I have commanded them; and inasmuch as they are faithful,
lo, I will be with them even unto the end...
21 And you shall be filled with joy and gladness..."

and this is a promise I have seen fulfilled. The Lord IS with us
always and as we do His work and are happy.

Have a great week. I love you all.

Sister Woolley

This week. Our district played sand volleyball this morning! 

 Last week. She made a bowl out of leaves and I finished the temple. Woo!

And from the Fourth of July haha. She's the cutest! 

Sweaty and happy

Hello!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! There's always something
exciting happening on a mission. In the words of Moroni, "has the day
of miracles ceased?...Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith
that miracles are wrought".

We had a jam packed week! We taught a ton of people and we have great
investigators that I am just so excited about!!

First off Mike is the one with four kids and one on the way. His wife
isn't as excited about the gospel as he is. Which makes sense because
this week we answered a ton of questions they had which stemmed from
CRAZY things they heard in the past. We cleared those up pretty quick
haha. BUT! Mike has been texting us all throughout the week about
different things he's reading in the Book of Mormon and all the
different experiences with the spirit he's having. One being "is this
what always happens to people you teach who accept the truth!?" Heck
yes!!

Some other random events this week: we had a fun relief society
activity Tuesday night. Thursday was MLC! It was different without
president and sister Berry there but President and Sister Clark and
the APs did a great job.

On the way back from MLC it ended earlier than we expected so we
stopped by a part member family in the Ward. They weren't home but we
saw their neighbor pull up so we went to talk with them. The woman
came up to us and was SO excited when she found out we were Mormons.
She had been given a copy of the Book of Mormon on an airplane from a
missionary and she said she believes it's true!! That was cool.

We had exchanges on Saturday so I went over to Palm Bay woohoo! I love
that area. We had some crazy experiences. The sister there is just in
her second transfer on the mission and has such excitement about the
work! So we had a super fun day and just shared miracle stories all
day long.

As I started the email out with faith I'll end with it. We can choose
to exercise faith in Christ. We must be the ones to act on it though.
No one can do it for us. Choose to out your faith in Christ and I
promise you you will see miracles in your life. I love you all!! I
hope you have an amazing week :) don't forget to smile!!!

Sister Woolley

Pictures:

1. We got to go to the beach yet again :)
2. The MLC - I just love them!

"We can go down to the dock don't ya know?

Hello hello!

Happy Independence Day ya'll! We've been hearing and seeing fireworks
all weekend!I'm proud to be an America and grateful to the Lord for
this free country. God bless!
I hope you're all enjoying the holiday and doing well :)

Okay really how is it July? I'm enjoying everyday to its fullest and
making the most of every opportunity. This time last year I was in
good ole Belleview :) love that place.

Satellite Beach is doing super well! We had another fantastic week!
Here's some highlights:

Our less active, Bro Potter (who's middle name is literally James
which is the coolest thing ever) came to church yesterday!!! And he
really enjoyed it :) so much progress!!!

Also, we have begun teach TWO families!! You have no idea, families
are a huge deal. Huge. One of them we met Tuesday, the husband's name
was found in areabook so we just stopped by. Four kids with a fifth on
the way :) the husband, Mike, basically has a lot of questions because
of the Book of Mormon musical (I guess it does some good...). What a
cool guy!!! He's been on Mormon.org all weekend and when we asked what
his favorite thing he learned was 1. The plan of salvation
(naturally!) and 2. That Adam was Michael (odd thing to be excited
about but alright!!).

The other family was... Wait for it... A member referral!!! The 11
year old daughter invited her friend from school to church several
times and the mom finally just gave us the family's address to stop
by. Such a sweet family! So we are going to start working with them as
well. Moral of this story, invite invite invite your friends!! Members
are so powerful in missionary work.

We had two exchanges this week which are always fun. On Saturday I
left the area and went to Rockledge!! That's a cool area. At one point
we drove by where all the famous cruise ships are docked! Seriously,
I'm in the coolest mission in the world. I love Florida so much :)

Also we met our new mission president on Friday! President and Sister
Clark from Salt Lake City. They're both very sweet and filled with the
spirit. I can't describe how much I miss President and Sister Berry
though but I'm happy to have the Clarks leading out the mission and
happy to be working with them. They'll do a great job!

Our investigator Terry is amazing and keeps asking for more to read.
So we gave her all the pamphlets we have and she's basically teaching
herself the lessons. So cool!

In closing, I have a testimony that the Lord is at the head of this
church. He will lead us as we humbly rely on Him. We must act though
for Him to lead us. He trusts us! Something I learned this morning was
that "there is no spiritual power in convenience". It is not always
convenient to serve, or keep the commandments, or follow Jesus Christ.
It may not be convenient but it is right. And when we do it, the Lord
will bless us.

I love you all! Thank you for the continued prayers and support! I
hope you have a fantastic week :)

Love,
Sister Woolley

P.S.
The subject title is from a cute Canadian girl, don't ya know.

Pictures:
I just adore my companion. She's amazing!!
Cutest puppy in the world. Much like holding a baby, but allowed :)

Living the dream.

Hey ya'll!

How was your week?? I hope this finds each of you happy and well :)

First week of this transfer was super amazing!! I am so pumped for all
that's happening. Sister Lefebvre, my new companion, is freaking
awesome. She's from Orem, Utah and came out with my trainee 10 months
ago (weird it's been that long...) We get along so well. She loves
nature and is such a happy person. We've had so much fun this week!

Had the funniest experience on Tuesday, our first day together. We
went to see a less active, returning member (who got her temple
recommend on Sunday yay!). We just stopped in to surprise her and when
she saw us at the doorway she jumped and rushed over. "Sisters! Let me
feed you" she said hahah. She took us to her backyard where she has a
beautiful garden and Lechi (Asian fruit I guess) which we ate and
shared a message. What a funny experience. Sis Lefebvre loves Lechi
and so that made her day. Fast forward to Sunday that same member
brought in branches of Lechi for the relief society! Haha! So today we
grafted in those branches to our trees in the backyard (fulfillment of
Jacob 5 I suppose) :)

Anyways! Greatest thing this week was on Wednesday we met Terry! She
was a referral a couple of months ago from a member in Nevada. We
stopped in on her and she immediately said she wants a Book of Mormon
and she feels like she's missing something inside. We testified that
it was the gospel and she said she knows it is. Saturday we took her
and her daughter on a church tour and she accepted a baptism date, no
hesitation. Sunday they came to church and Terry was telling everyone
who asked if she was visiting "I'm here to stay!" So happy.

We also have been meeting a ton of less active/part member families.
Like, everyday. Hoping to start working with a lot of them! One of
them we met Wednesday night after dinner. The member was baptized
about a year and a half ago but has been less active because of work.
She was so happy to see us and said she would be at church on Sunday,
but then couldn't come because she found out she was pregnant and was
in the ER! Woah. But, hopefully next week.

Also, our neighbor Norman had us come over yesterday and we had a
fantastic lesson with him in which the spirit totally taught him that
he needed to read the Book of Mormon everyday. He told us about three
times that he would! And then later that night texted that he was
reading all he could. People are so great.

Life is so good. I have a testimony of this restored gospel and the
priesthood authority. We received blessings from our bishop yesterday
to start off the transfer with Heavenly Father's guidance and wow were
they powerful. I know He loves us. I know He answers prayers.

Everyday I have the opportunity to testify of putting the Savior first
in our lives. 3 Nephi 13:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
That is the truth, for Ive seen it in my own life.

I love you all! Let me know what's going on out there and send me your
testimonies. The Lord loves you! Don't forget to smile this week :)

Sister Woolley

Picture: that's a Lechi tree. How cool!?

"Why does it always smell like fish!?"

Hey y'all!

Happy Father's Day! I am so blessed to have a wonderful father who
loves and supports me. Thank you daddy :) and I am grateful to a
step-father who has also been there to love and help me, thank you
Dave! Father's have a strong impact on not only their children but all
around them. And of course I am thankful for a Father in Heaven who
blesses me each and every day :)

Transfer calls came and I am staying in beautiful Satellite Beach and
training another new STL, Sister Lefebvre! She's been out about 10
months and is super sweet :)

So this was probably the strangest week of my mission. I couldn't do
much walking from the accident last week.. I used those crutches for
most of the time. We taught a lot of our lessons at the church and
made sure to rest- so strange. But, I'm feeling a lot better and we
had some awesome events this week!

First off, Venita got baptized! That came up quick for both of us. It
was such a great service. She was all smiles the whole time :) we had
a good turnout from the Ward. Sister Quist and I did a musical number,
she played piano and I sang "I Believe in Christ". The sweetest part
of all was when Venita came out of the water. She was beaming. And the
spirit was so strong. When she walked up the steps and we handed her
her towel she just put the towel to her face and cried. She was so
happy and so overcome with the spirit. :) She was confirmed the next
day in sacrament meeting. It's just hard to explain the way it feels
to be a part of someone making this life decision. I am SO happy for
her. Random miracle too, her newborn was quiet the ENTIRE service. And
he's never quiet! Also, her husband seemed so comfortable and happy
too- he's next!

With Venita's baptism and extending dates to a couple of other people
I've been thinking a lot about the covenant we make. In Matthew
3:16-17 it reads,

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased.

Something else that makes my heart happy is that Alaila, who I taught
in Olympia, got baptized last week and then Jamie, who I also taught
in Olympia, was baptized pm Saturday. I got to talk to her for a few
minutes. I am so proud of these wonderful women for making this choice
to be baptized. Such a blessing to have been able to work with them!!

The voice of our Heavenly Father was heard. He was pleased when His
Son, Jesus Christ was baptized and I know for a fact He is pleased
when one of us, His sons and daughters, are baptized. I want everyone
to realize this fact! My one true desire is to please my Heavenly
Father. I just imagine Him up there smiling down on us when we make
righteous choices. That just brings me such joy! And I want everyone
to feel that joy from their Father too :)

I discovered a lot this week the principle of being in the right place
at the right time. We had several amazing opportunities to help those
who really needed it. A seemingly small event that meant a lot to me
was when we were driving and stopped at a red light. I rolled down my
window to contact the man next to us. I told him who we were and what
we do and he said "your timing couldn't be more perfect". I told him
that God loves Him and he shook his head as if he wasn't worthy of
God's love. I testified (through the car!) that the Savior can heal
anyone and fix any mistake and he just had a look of hope on his face.
Sadly the light turned green and all I could do was tell him to look
at the church website and I prayed so hard that he would. Who knows
what will come of it?
Another experience happened where we contacted a group of young adults
and one of them burst in to tears and said that she had just been
praying that morning for help. She knew we were sent from God.

I share these small experiences because it makes me reflect upon my
mission. I am SO thankful to each day out on my name badge and
represent my Savior. It's a privilege to be where He needs us to be
and say what He needs us to say. I'm entering my last 6 weeks of the
mission and I am so sad that it will be coming to a close but so ready
to work even harder each and every day to help my brothers and
sisters.

I know the Savior lives. I know He loves each one of you. What will
you do this week to please your Heavenly Father?

Thank you all for your love and support! Stay strong and keep smiling,
the Lord is on our side :)

Sister Woolley

P.S. Pictures to come soon! We got to go to the beach this morning and
it was heaven :)

D&C 84:88 "mine angels round about you"

Hey everyone!!

So, we had quite the week. I'll start off with the traumatic event... got in a slight car accident yesterday. Well, we were T-boned. It was the scariest thing of my life. I got to talk to my momma about it on the phone and don't ya'll worry, I'm doing fine! The coolest thing that came from this is the fact that I know for a fact angels protected us. Neither of us have any broken bones, just a lot of pain and bruising. The crutches in the picture are just to ease the pain on my left leg. What an adventure! I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time and my Mission President came down. woo! Again I can just testify to the fact that the Lord is watching over His missionaries. I can't even describe the experience but it was crazy. The members have been so sweet and have helped out so much already :)

Anyways, on to the week! 

Venita is doing awesome. She came yesterday to church and announced her own baptism to everyone! 

We had ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) once again and so both Wednesday and Thursday morning we were out in Vero Beach and then Rockledge for it. woo! But it was so good. I got to train on finding-- my FAVORITE topic yay. After the Thursday one we had a potluck lunch with all the missionaries which was fun :) something I LOVED was in Ether 12:12-18 about faith. We can't do anything without faith first in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Miracles can then occur!!

Here's a super cool miracle! We had dinner on Wednesday in a member's home with our investigator and she ended up bringing a friend of hers too. As we were going to the house we felt prompted to change our lesson plan to teaching the Plan of Salvation. So we did! It was a really simple lesson but as we got to what happens after this life the woman that the member brought was SO happy. Her son had passed away several years ago and the thought that she would see him again brought her so much peace right then. She said she was ready to learn more about the Restored gospel. SO AMAZING. 

Also we had a miracle on Thursday where we knocked into a woman who said she's looking for a church. We went back on Saturday and met her granddaughter who is semi-atheist. We taught her about Jesus Christ and how to pray and she said the prayer at the end which was beautiful and the spirit was SO strong telling her that God is real. Heck yes He's real! That was so rewarding. 

Those are the main highlights for the week. Sister Quist and I are having a great time and the accident definitely bonded us too I think haha. She's helping me out so much. I know this church is true. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting on Sunday and what a blessing that was. I feel my Savior's love so strong and I know He's there for me and for you.

Have a fantastic week!! Love you all <3

Sister Woolley