Trio Maddness

Hello family and friends!!

How are all you beautiful people?? Thanks for all the emails and love <3 pictures are cherished and greatly appreciated!

Soo this week was the first of the transfer--- I'm in trio! That was unexpected. Jensen and I walked in to the apartment last week after P-day and there was a third bed put into the room! Yikes. First off, that meant that the Assistants or whomever came into our house without us knowing (thank goodness we cleaned). 

Now I'm here with Sister Sparks and Sister Harthun! They're both from Northern California which is cool. TOTAL opposites, one's really shy and one is super loud and crazy haha. We have fun. I'm driving now too! That's pretty cool. I've been pretty stressed this last week leading in the area and showing them around and all. No worries though it's great!

Super neat miracle--- MILDRED came to church!!! woot woot! We had a lesson with her and Jerome and after reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them Jerome said "I feel peace". YES. Inside I'm dying from excitement. He didn't make it to church sadly but Mildred was so happy to be there again! Pray for her <3

We got some cool new investigators this week! Both times our appointments all fell through. Just last night we were walking down a street after trying to see a potential gator and a Less Active family and ugh neither opened the door. I was slightly frustrated with myself and everything and as we turned from the house I just thought "Okay. We're on this street. Why are we here? Who needs us Heavenly Father?" walked to the end of the street and we spotted a house with the garage door open and a few guys just hanging out there. Alright here we go! Sister Sparks pushed me up front and we went for it. "Hey guys!" and then one said "I've met you before" whatttt. Just two days ago we rolled down our window at a red light and told him to check out mormon.org. Coincidence? NOPE! They were really cool. Talked a bit then asked them to watch Because He Lives. They had their eyes glued to the video as I was holding it. Then we taught them the Restoration. They sat there listening and asking questions. It was so cool. So COOL! When ever will I be able to go up to a garage of random people and show them a video of Christ and teach them the restoration?? And have them respect me. The spirit's real. being a missionary is AWESOME. 

Random funny stories--- I accidentally ran over a little bird and killed it... I was heart broken! Ugh. 

There was a snake at the base a tree and a lady poked it and it literally jumped out at us! that was freaky. 

Gotta run! Keep smiling. People notice the Spirit with you. Don't be afraid to share your testimony- it will change someone's life! Super sweet. Love you all and never forget how much God loves you!

Sister Woolley 

 teaching waffle house employees! 

The trio! Sister Sparks + Sister Harthun :) 

Horton Hears A Who flowers

Whoville and waffles

Hey everyone!!!

Not really sure where to start today! So for starters, transfers are
tomorrow and I get to stay in Leesburg!!! I'll be getting a new comp
so Jensen will be heading out. It's been good! I'm excited yet a bit
nervous for a new one.

So something really funny that happened this week was when we were
trying to find a potential investigator. We went to his house and he
wasn't home so we tracted a bit. Had a good laugh when one of the guys
who opened the door simply said "Not interested, byyyyye!" And closed
the door. Sad he doesn't give it a chance but we thought it was funny
:) across the street were some flowers that looked just like the ones
in Horton Hear's a Who! Took some funny pictures, I'll try to send em
later! And then the house right next door had the coolest guy there
and we get to meet with him tomorrow! Woot woot! Pray for us!

We got to have interviews with the mission president this week. Ah
he's just the sweetest! What's neat is you can tell he just really
loves you and I'm super grateful for a mission president like him.

Miracles from following promptings!! We were driving to a less
active's house and passed by a Harley Davidson and Jensen spotted a
guy sitting outside on his break (who looks like my uncle Clayton
which was chill!) so we pulled over and awkwardly (when is it not
awkward?) walked up to him. But he way way cool!!! There was that
spark in his eyes when he watched the He Lives Easter video :) but he
lives outside our area so we're praying missionaries find him again!

Another miracle-- Jensen and I were talking about going to Waffle
House before transfers cause they're all over Florida and apparently
it's the thing to do (not all that great) and she wanted to go one
night so we went and thank goodness we did! There was hardly anyone in
there and so the two employees just sat down and started chatting to
us and they were really interested in what we do! Yay for awesome
people and following promptings!

This week I really learned about Heavenly Father's love for us. I'm so
focused on helping other people feel His love that I kind of had to
remind myself about His love for me too! Guys, it's just awesome.
There are so many people on this earth and our Father in Heaven loves
each of us and knows us all PERFECTLY. He most definitely knows us
better than we know ourselves too. Never forget that!!

Something funny- I've gotten a ton of different names here haha. So
far we have Woolsy, Worley, Wolly... Ha.

Aww so remember our old man Frank?? He broke his ankle two days ago!
Very sad. But his daughter was extremely grateful for us coming over a
lot and the smile on his face when he saw us was just precious.

Dale is making progress! We pray he gets baptized this transfer! He's
so sweet. Not sure how much I've told ya'll, but he is having trouble
believing in Christ but he loves the Book of Mormon and has the
kindest heart. Pray that he'll make it to church!!

Well I can't really think of anything else to say. I love you all SO
much and miss you a ton. I'm so grateful to be here and wouldn't
change it for the world. Thank you for all of the encouragement ya'll
have give me and for all the emails and updates. I'm praying for ya
everyday. ❤️

Love,
Sister Woolley

Baptism, laughs, golden gators

Best week yet!!!

So for starters- BETTY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! Indescribably awesome. She was just SO happy this week! On Wednesday we got to go to the temple and have a little temple tour with her. She can't wait to go inside and do baptisms next week. We got to go in the waiting room of the temple with her and she said she felt the Spirit SO strong - it was so peaceful. The day of her baptism was so great. Jensen and I put together a musical number (last time I got to play the flute!). We performed Come Thou Fount. Favorite song! shout out to my brother for singing it at his farewell a few years ago and making it my favorite. Practice went well! But when the time came the A/C was blowing and blew all of Jensen's sheet music down while she was playing and I threw in a few weird notes and the Elders were laughing haha. Betty and everyone loved it but Jensen and I just sat down laughing :D She's officially a member and is SO happy! Church is true guys.

So last P-day we played volleyball like all day with our district. super fun! And then we sang A Child's Prayer for a member that came by randomly :) 

Well we had quite a shocker last week--- we drove to our 'gator's house randomly (thanks to the spirit's guidance) and, well, it was kind of burnt to the ground. No joke. We were in shock! Turns out there was a fire a couple of days before Easter. Everyone is okay thank goodness. We went in to see the older lady at the hospital (she broke her collarbone) and she was so happy to see us. Praying things go okay for them!

Oh my goodness our investigator's are just awesome! Yesterday we read Alma 40 with J. and he straight up said he needs to make changes and prepare himself. He missed Betty's baptism but when we called he said "I hope I can come see another. Maybe it'll be my own". He's awesome.

Frank is such a sweetheart. He's the old man we walk dogs with :) yesterday he too had such an open heart and things are making sense for him. He said "I bet God is so happy you're working for Him" awww it made me almost cry!

I'm so happy to be a missionary. It's amazing, being able to watch these people's lives change. The gospel is so precious and free for everyone! It just takes an open heart and humility :) 

Side note: Sister Jensen and I have just been laughing all the time this week - which is so nice to be having fun while doing work :) We've gotten to the point where we can basically read each others' minds haha. we were eating dinner at Betty's and the meat was really rare... like really pink. We just looked at each other and busted up laughing. 

Oh! another funny thing - we tracted a couple of house after seeing a Less Active and the first one who opened the door was a Jehova's witness. She proceeded to preach to us and then gave us her card to check out the website... awkward 'cause that's what we tell people to do. So we took it and moved on. Next house we went to the guy was nice but not interested. So I said "can we leave a card with you??" As I pulled out what should have been the Mormon.org card he said "no I'm okay" and thank goodness for that because it was actually the J-Witness card I pulled out! oops! we had a good laugh. 

Love you all! Thanks for all the emails, love, and support :) Keep being awesome!!

Sister Woolley

P.S. blind mosquitoes are nasty--- welcome to Florida where there are three seasons "Summer, hurricanes, and snowbird season" <333

Betty's baptism! 

Elder Wilson playing Sister Woolley's flute and Sister Jensen sanitized it

District P-day!

General Conference, Easter, and grits

Hello Family and Friends!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Easter is the "most sacred holiday" as Holland (I believe it was) said at General Conference. Speaking of which: How did ya'll like general conference!? Oh my, best thing ever. As a missionary, it's like Christmas but it's twice a year as opposed to once ;) haha. It seriously was so inspiring. We had two of our gators (Betty and J) there, both of which just LOVED it. How could you not? 

Betty is ready to be baptized on Saturday! It's been the coolest thing watching her gain a testimony and testifying of the strength she'll receive from the Holy Ghost when she's baptized. YAY Also, the prophet talked about temples in conference and she just LOVES the temple. I can't wait to go with her!!

So from General Conference and things that happened this week I'm thinking a lot more of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's SO important to have a strong testimony of Him and I hope everyone knows that He is literally there for you and loves you deeply. It's so sad, some of our 'gators are just trying to develop a testimony that He was the Savior of the world. Ultimately, it's their decision to act- to pray and read the Book of Mormon and it's our responsibility to promise them they'll receive an answer. And they will!! I've seen it happen. It's all the little things though: read the Book of Mormon and PRAY. Once you already have a testimony- keep it strong! 

On a funnier note: we went to see our new 'gator Chase on Friday! He's from Philadelphia and we met him at the library a week or so ago. Our Bishop's son came with us to see him and we had quite the adventure! haha. We walked up and he wasn't home right when we got there... wait for it... the Lord always has perfect timing :D Chase walked up a couple minutes later holding a puppy! Turns out it was a stray. So the four of us new friends, 'gator, RM, and two missionaries, walked across town to the police department to return this lost puppy whom we affectionately named Spot. It was a funny situation to be in, especially hearing Chase describe it to his mom on the phone. Hopefully it's semi-entertaining for whoever is reading this haha :) He got a Book of Mormon and was excited about it too! Turns out the puppy's name is actually Leeroy and he's safe and home now :) 

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but there's another Sister Woolley in my Zone! And we showed up to a training meeting matching exactly... so that was funny :) 

It's really neat seeing how the Spirit works. I know I talk about it a lot. But guys, it's SO REAL. J. also loved conference and we gave him a tour around the church which he was just absorbed in! He looked at all the pictures we had in the building and just stared at them as we testified about it all. :D Gives me a huge smile.

Things are going really well! We have two weeks of the transfer left and I pray that we'll keep having success in good ole Leesburg.

Oh!!!!!!! Dale was in the hospital this weekend for some internal problems. Sad, he couldn't come to conference but he accepted having a priesthood blessing! We've talked about the priesthood a lot with him and offered a blessing before and he finally wanted one. Four Elders came with us after conference and it was SO cool. Miracles are happening :) his wife, who's been kind of not happy about us coming over to teach him, was super talkative and happy so that's awesome too!

Well, I'll probably think of more later but that's all for now folks. I pray for ya'll everyday. I love each one of you, thanks for the wonderful example you've been to me. 

Love,

Sister Woolley

P.S. before the priesthood session of conference the men had a huge dinner that they invited us too.... consisted of pancakes, bisquits and gravy, sausage, and grits or "georgia ice cream" as he likes to call it. oh boy. stomachs were not super happy later on hahah. <3333

 returning a lost puppy

Sister Woolley with another Sister Woolley! (and they match...)

Hanging investigator Mildred's laundry & eating grits!

 

Rain, alligators, and Pocahontas

This week just flew by! Talk about miracles galore!

So we had quite a few adventures this week. For one, we biked a TON
because, well, end of the month equals not very many miles on our car
(we only get about 875 miles a month and our area is pretty big). We
biked to miss Mildred's one day and had such a cool lesson! Awesome
lesson with her! And then the rain just started pouring... Well we
biked home in it and my oh my were we soaked! Haha. Thank goodness
there was no lightning. That's a day to remember!

Wednesday was wayyy cool! We had a District meeting all about inviting
people to be baptized- it's so important! Christ would do it, so why
shouldn't we? We call ourselves Patient Persistent Pests :) haha.
Miracle from that day? We invited 3 people to be baptized!! Back story
of our friend named J: we handed him a pass along card (he was on the
phone) as we walked into a store to talk to our gator Freddie. Well
when we walked out of the store he said "what's this about?", pointing
to the Book of Mormon on the back of the card. At that exact moment
our bishops son, who just got off his mission, was walking down the
street with his girlfriend. They met, we got an appointment for the
next day, and invited him to be baptized April 18!!!! He's awesome.
We'll see what happens, pray for him!

Another cool thing: we were having dinner with Betty on Friday night
and we had planned to give her a baptismal date. Well out of the blue
she just tells her she was thinking of having Brother Darrow (our ward
mission leader) baptize her! We were aghast. Like for reals!? AWESOME.
I love her.

So the mission is awesome. Here in the Florida Orlando Mission, we are
one of the few missions testing out iPads! They're so sweet! The new
Easter video came out a few days ago, because he lives, and we get to
show it to everyone we meet on the streets! There's so much power in
it. Picture this: a busy road, we're biking on the sidewalk, there's a
man shoveling, we stop and show him the video. Despite the cars going
by and the loud noises, the spirit was so strong when he was watching
it. THE CHURCH IS TRUE GUYS.

Testimony meeting yesterday was all about Joseph smith basically. It
was prophesied that his name would be had for good and evil. How true
is that. If you don't have a testimony of him, get one. He was called
of God. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I'm so grateful for this
knowledge in my life.

On a funny note: Jerome's line "I looooove cats." That's the only
thing he said after watching Because He lives hahaha. Annnnd we biked
like 15 miles on Saturday whooo. Saw some awesome old fashioned cars
turned into boats. Way cool, I'll send pics if I can.

Saw my first live ALLIGATOR!

Watch conference this weekend! Happy Easter!!!!!!!! ❤️

Love,
Sister Woolley

P.S. Met a man who was intoxicated last week... Said I looked like
Pocahontas. Couldn't stop laughing. And a member made us take three
servings of shepherds pie. Mom, at least you know I'm not starving!

 drenched after biking home in the rain 

raked for 5 hours and bagged 62 bags of leaves!!

Sunshine and 'gators

Hey ya'll!!

SO this week ended pretty awesome. Talk about miracles!! (my favorite thing haha). We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday which was way fun! Got to see ms Lindy Ludlow most of the day so a shout out to her family :) 

Not gonna lie, I was more homesick this week than I've been this whole time. It can only go uphill from there right? haha. It's just forced me to rely on my Savior so much, which is a huge blessing. And the scriptures oh my goodness. I was writing my testimony of the Book of Mormon (which, by the way, everyone should go do right now it's awesome) and I just realized more than ever what a gift it is for us to have it! It was literally written for our day. When you read it, remember that it is God speaking to YOU. Best thing ever.

Fun fact!! The senior missionaries in our ward (best couple ever) rented a flute for me to use for the month :))) So I played in Sacrament meeting with Sister Jensen on the piano! So fun.

Here's a cool story. We stopped by a less active lady out of the blue and she said it made her day. She told us how much she wants to get herself back to the temple. She's gonna make it happen! yay for the Spirit's guidance.

By the way, every less active we saw came to church the next day!!!!!!!!! 

Okay so Sunday. #miracleday. Betty Hicks, our gator came to church again! Whooo. She's so ready to be baptized :) She's like our grandma out here it's so awesome. Annnnd this lady just walked into church (very brave of her in my opinion) and asked what it was all about! She had looked at Mormon.org and thought she'd check it out. She's so cool!

We got to see Mildred again. She told us she was going to be baptized into another church. Agh. BUT. We just bore our testimonies to her of the church then she asked if we could read from the Book of Mormon-- uh yeah! So we shared some of our favorite scriptures (2 Nephi 31:20 and some of Enos 1). then we were crying and the spirit was so strong and she said she'd pray about which church to join. TBD next week ;)

Okay, adorable. Old man Frank (my favorite) was sick earlier this week so we put sticky notes with scriptures and cute sayings all over his door. When we went to see him yesterday he opened the door and said "my friends!" and gave us hugs (oops haha). He had all the sticky notes on his wall in the house! awwww. My heart melted. We sang Come Come Ye Saints with him and he had tears in his eyes too.

We played the flute and piano for a psychiatrist! (we knew his dad but we had just met him that day.) Well, talk about using the talents we've been given ;)

Sorry this is always so long. It still amazes me that I'm a missionary. I'm so blessed and grateful to be here! I love this work. It's hard but rewarding. I hope everything is going well at home. Keep on keeping on!

Love,

Sister Woolley

P.S. the new easter video "Because He Lives" will be released on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! Go watch it on Mormon.org woot woot!

Puerto Ricans, biking, and life

Woah. What a week! The first three days of this new transfer were literally FULL of MIRACLES. Seriously, we'd go to bed at night just in awe about all that was thrown in our path. Things were in full swing for Mildred's baptism and we got three new 'gators at the first house we stopped to tract at. WOOH! Then miss Mildred was hit by some lovely anti-Mormon lies and didn't want to see us anymore.. Seriously? Ugh. So sad. She's now completely confused and the only thing we can tell her is to pray and read the Book of Mormon and to decide for herself where she feels the Spirit. She wouldn't come to church on Sunday.. no baptism. :(

Oddly enough! Both Sis. Jensen and I felt okay about her not getting baptized. I think it was alright because she obviously doesn't have as strong of a testimony as she needs and it's better this happened before being baptized then after. Here's a funny explanation of her - "She's a Jehova's Witness who eats at the Baptist church daily, studies with the Seventh Day Adventists and is committed to being baptized into the Mormon church" Talk about confusion. Ready for the miracle that came from her bailing on our Wednesday night lesson? WE MET OUR NEIGHBORS.

You'd think we would have gone over there earlier... but it was such PERFECT timing. We were walking up the street to see if our neighbor Edwin was home and as we walked by another house (one where we had waved to these people a lot but never talked to) the man, named John, came out and was so happy to see us! We walked up and introduced ourselves and, in his broken English (Puerto Rican), he said "come in come in you must meet my wife and son!". As you can imagine, us missionaries LOVE hearing that. Wow, they are so solid. They loved it all and said they feel the Spirit with us and yay! Also, they have the sweetest cerepral palsy son.
 After a really tough day (super hot, biking all day, doors slammed in our faces) on Saturday we went to their house for a lesson and they surprised us with a Puerto Rican dinner! So sweet. They kept saying "my home is your home. we are family" and they showed us their hammock outside ha.

Sorry this is so long haha.

Today we found the coolest taco truck! So authentic. Super legit. (see pic below)

Prayer miracle! While at the Puerto Rican's house we were showing them a video about the Restoration and it would not work. It was skipping and pausing. So, we said a prayer. The second Sis. Jensen said amen it worked! That was cool. 

I'm just extremely grateful for the Spirit. There's nothing better than being in a lesson and listening for promptings of the Spirit to tell you what to say. Also nothing better than having a 'gator pray for the first time. There's just nothing better than missionary work. It was a tough week but so wonderful.

Thanks for the prayers! Keep the letters coming ;) Look up Mosiah 14:4-5 - I literally share that with everyone. And watch the new video Because He Lives-- SO AMAZING. Have a happy week and remember I'm praying for and love you all. Also, look at Mosiah 10 and think of it in relation to us in the modern day. SO COOL.

Love,

Sister Woolley