"How long have you been away from civilization??"

Hello everyone!!

Another beautiful week on Olympia! For starters, it has been SO cold
and I'm just loving it. People, we're in Florida get wearing coats and
tights. Yay.

Like I said last week we've been having meetings galore and this week
we had a worldwide missionary training which was pretty legit. Nothing
new is happening but it was good to get back to the basics of
missionary work.

Guess what! A Less Active we're working with, Linda Long, came to 

church yesterday!!!!!! holy cow it was awesome.

So we found a lot of new investigators this week! We had some really
cool experiences where we were definitely led by the spirit. One of
them is a former investigator who has family members who are members.
She opened the door and was so happy to see us! She said she's ready
to learn :)

Yesterday we had a super cool experience. We went to go see an
investigator we had picked up a few weeks ago and FINALLY got to meet
with him. His best friend just moved in last Monday as well. We taught
them both and the spirit was so strong. Ah we are so excited!

On Saturday we met this woman named Heather (I freaked out a little,
miss you Heather!!) and taught her. She came to church on Sunday! I
was slightly shocked when she walked in but it was so great. Prayers
for her please!

We're working with a part member/less active family. The dad served a
mission in New Zealand and we found out that it's the same mission my
dad served in!! Even cooler, they served in the same zone! So, dad, I
will be sending you a picture of his picture :)
Another less active family we're working with, the Jean-Gilles have 3
kids that just love when we come over. Last night we taught them and
then asked the kids to invite their friends to church. The oldest
(he's 13) kind of freaked out and said he wouldn't do it so we role
played with him and it was the funniest thing. We tried to act as his
friends and he kept saying "they'd never do that!" Until he asked how
long we had been away from civilization haha! Apparently I no longer
know the social norms haha.

I was reading in Mosiah 16-17 this morning about Abinadi. As I was
reading I realized how much chapter 16 outlined the atonement and then
17 is abinadi's final testimony. He is SO bold and courageous. He
exemplifies the Savior in his courage and I hope we can all be firm in
the faith.

I love you all! Thank you for all you do. Don't forget that God loves you :)

One more thing. Supposedly we're down to 75,000 missionaries in the world. 

Everyone needs to serve a mission!

Sister Woolley

Pictures:

We saw 5 peacocks while tracting. what. 

The temple. The temple is gorgeous. Florida is gorgeous

Storm Troopers and General Authorities

Hey ya'll! I hope everyone had a fantastic week! Is the new year going well thus far?? What's the highlight of the week?

We had quite the time this week, several ups and downs. But I feel like I've learned a ton about the Savior and I'm so grateful for the Atonement and His love. There's a talk I read from Bruce C. Hafan called "The Atonement: All for All" and I would highly suggest it to everyone to study this week. He talks about how Jesus Christ literally gave His all when performing the Atonement. We can't even comprehend what he's done for us. And He did it out of love! And so, in order for us to access the blessings of the Atonement, we too must give our all. Holding nothing back we need to give our whole heart to Him. Just as when Christ called His disciples to follow Him they left their nets behind them and gave their life to His service. It needs to be the same for us. And in return we receive so much strength and joy from His gospel <3

So, this week was interesting. We had MLC and Zone Conference with Elder Maynes of 70! He is awesome. I learned SO much and it just was a reboost for the work :) Also, on Sunday we had a Regional Broadcast for church where Elder Hales, Elder Rasband, Elder Clayton, and Sister Reeves to the whole South East area woohoo! Now that was cool. Elder Hales talked a lot about strengthening the family so if it's available, go back and watch it because it was amazing.

Work wise... 

We have this sweet lady named Mary that we're teaching now. The YSA elders met her and passed her off to us. We're feeling pretty good about her :) Also, our sweet Iranian family are doing great. Reza, the grandpa, came to church on Sunday! We were ecstatic!

Other than that we are just finding and finding, searching for those people who are willing to commit to the gospel. A couple of our solid investigators have dropped us so it's been hard but we're pushing forward. I'm grateful for the Savior and the strength He gives me :) 

On a happy note we had some STELLAR lessons with some less active members we're working with and a member of the Bishopric who came with us. We had some really spiritual lessons with the. Our member invited one of them to church and it was the sweetest invitation there. Hopefully soon!!

I hope you all are doing well! It sounds like things are home are going great :) I am so grateful for each of you and the influence you have had and will continue to have on me. Thank you! I love you all so much. Let me know if there's anything I can pray for. Have a great week!!

Sister Woolley

P.S. I hit my year mark this week. Not sure how time has flown so quickly, but I can honestly say it's been the best year of my life :) 

Pictures:

Our ward mission leader has 5 adorable kids. He bought them this balloon Stormtrooper and it made my day haha.

Also, we met his man (who may know my brother in law) who had a bird that flew onto my comps' shoulder and sat there while we talked about the Plan of Salvation haha :) 

"recycling!!" and a relay race

Hello Hello!! I hope everyone had a fantastic first full week of January! I'm loving it

We had a ton of miracles this week, holy cow the Lord is blessing us. Sister Burnette is amazing and just makes me laugh so hard too :)

For starters, yesterday was amazing. A few days ago we got a media referral for a woman named Tabatha who requested a Bible. Okay. So we called her up and she asked us to bring two bibles, one for her and one for her 15 year old son. Cool! So last night we went to see her
with a member and she is legit. We taught her and her son the whole restoration and committed them to baptism. Tabatha said a kneeling closer prayer at the end and was crying as she closed the prayer and her son was just all smiles. So. Cool. I am grateful for referrals!

On Tuesday we got to have interviews with our dear President Berry. I just love ever hung about him :) also, the APs were in charge of our district meeting that day and therefore we had a Preach My Gospel relay race which was probably the greatest thing ever. We were split
into two teams against our companions and it was the funniest thing. On team had to put on a Santa costume while the other put on a jack sparrow costume and then it was timed and we had to teach the restoration as fast as we could, find a scripture on a certain topic,and even shoot a hoop, among many other activities. I know, random. BUT SO FUN. And we learned from it so it was great!

On Thursday we had another cool experience. We went to see a Less Active woman that we had previously scheduled an appointment with. She completely opened up to us and told us she needs help with her faith and we told her that's our job to help her! So she's allowing us to come once a week for now and we're really confident about working with her :) yay!!

ALSO we were driving down the road and saw this man in his driveway. We awkwardly pulled off the side of the road, jumped out of the car, and taught him. He's awesome!

On Saturday we had exchanges again and we probably had one of the most interesting days I've had on the mission. Holy cow. It went from people running away and yelling at us in the morning (no big deal) to a couple AMAZING on the spot lessons and a couple of new investigators woo! to a crazyyy lesson where a Hatian man wouldn't let us speak, starting yelling about recycling, and we just up and left. wow. So we ate dinner at Yellow Dog Eats (amazing) in the pouring raing (also great) and felt much better. It was quite the day! A great day nonetheless.

Sorry this is so long. Real quick, Brenda is really struggling. We haven't met with her since Wednesday and work has been crazy. Can everyone please pray for her? I have such a testimony of prayer and I know it will help.

The church is true! I love it with my whole heart :) I love each of you and I know that Heavenly Father loves you so much. The Book of Mormon is true and it will bring SO much peace if you read it everyday. Please do! The gospel can and will change your whole heart if you let it.

I love you all. Hope to hear from you soon!

Sister Woolley

Pictures: Hermana Shelley :)

2016

Hello all!!!

Happy New Year! First off... How is it 2016? How did that happen? Second off, I'm SUPER excited for all this year holds :) And I'd love to hear everyone's resolutions for the year! How are you coming closer to Christ this year? What will you do for Him?

Also, it's been FREEZING these last two days (yesterday was 54 degrees and neither of us wore a sweater oops...) but it finally feels like winter so I'm loving it. I swear it almost snowed yesterday... Haha.

Well, besides the new year, there was lots of change this week. On Tuesday we went to transfer meeting and I said goodbye to my dear sister Arsenault. She is now whitewashing in a trio! Love you! And I am now with Sister Burnette from Olympia, Washington! (Now in the Olympia Ward in Florida haha). She is awesome! Fun fact, I am her second Sister Woolley companion. And she's my 11th comp in general. Woo! She really teaches by the spirit and makes me laugh so the transfer started off great!

Our first day together we found this cool Indian couple to teach and had a bomb lesson with Brenda! We taught her about repentance and watched the little video Because of Him then just sat there and cried. Yep. Us and her member friend just sobbing and testifying of the Atonement. Probably one of the top spiritual lessons I've had. She is on fire and wants to do everything she can to follow Christ. She came to church on Sunday for the second time and said she felt so good. She's talking to her boss about getting Sunday's off so please pray for her! :)

On Thursday we had MLC which is always great. There's some cool events and changes coming that were pumped about! (To be continued)

This transfer we are hoping to really work with our members and have them share the gospel with their friends and family. We're pumped to begin working more with each of them :) so please add the Olympia Ward and its members to your prayers as well. Thank you all! Also, this week's ponderize: Mosiah 8:18. I found it after praying about our Ward and how to work with them. The Lord will provide a way for us to touch many lives but great faith is required. On that subject, I was reading in Enos 1 today and discovering how Enos gained great faith. It definitely takes work and is not easy to gain but it WILL come. And always remember Ether 12:6 :) Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and will do all He can to help us. And then it's up to us to either follow Him or not. I'm eternally grateful for the choice I've made to serve a mission and I have loved every minute of it thus far. Im grateful for each of you and the support you give to me. I'm grateful for the Restored gospel and the Book of Mormon. Don't forget to read it! Have a fantastic week!!

Love,
Sister Woolley

Sister Arsenault!

 members dog

Sister Burnette!