Smores and summer lightning

Hello everyone, happy Monday! 

Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement, keep it up, it means a ton to me! I'm praying for ya'll and hope that everything has been going well with each of you.

Last P-day we had an awesome event! We were driving home and a lady's car was stuck in the middle of the road (don't worry, it wasn't too dangerous) so we all got out of our car and pushed her car into a parking lot right by! There was five of us so it was easy. Apparently that was her second time this week meeting missionaries so she said it must be a sign (and the fact that she just had her car checked out so really it stopped for no reason) woot woot! We gave her number to the missionaries over her area and hopefully something good will come of it :)

Our little Yazay is doing so well! She bore her testimony to us about how she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church has been restored. Way cool! We were so happy. And on Saturday we finally met her mom. We were kind of worried because last time the missionaries met with Yazay (probably two years ago), her mom said she couldn't get baptized because she wasn't old enough to know what she was doing. But when we talked to her mom about it now she was totally fine with it so long as we make sure Yazay understands the commitment she's making. WOO! She was super cool :) Also, her mom was happy because she kept saying how she's never seen Yazay get so into studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon. How cool is that!?

We did some yard work for a member this week. So fun! We seriously love service, but everyone thinks we don't so they won't let us do stuff for them often. But we're dead serious! So if the missionaries ask you if there's anything you can do PLEASE take them up on it! haha. We cleared out a TON of weeds and bushes in her backyard. Anyone who's ever been to Florida has probably seen it before... but there's these GIANT grasshoppers that are just nasty and scary and we're pretty certain they're the same grasshoppers that were part of the plague in Egypt. yup. Just a little fun fact! 

It's been SUPER hot, apparently record breaking for how early in the summer it is... Humidity has been about 90% supposedly? I now understand when everyone says you can't get dry. But I don't mind it too much, you just have to wear your hair up haha. 

We're teaching a preacher! He's super cool. His name is Terry and he was taught maybe a year or two ago but wasn't too interested them. He LOVED Joseph Smith's experience though and he said right then he knew it was true. I just love that! You never know who will be ready for the gospel, that's why we have to share it with everybody! Please pray for Terry! The transition (as it is for everyone) will be tough. 

Happy Summer! Meaning- lightning storms! Nothing very dangerous. Some members had a firepit outside and we had s'mores in the rain- super fun! And they are so great- they offered to help with our investigators, which we don't hear very often. 

I realized I haven't written a ton about my companions, sorry about that! They are straight up hilarious! We have a lot of fun together which I'm thankful for. They both go home soon though so I've attempted helping them fight trunkyness, but there's not much I can do ha. They're just great :) 

Sorry this is so long! Short story long, things are going really well :) Also, if ya'll could email before Monday that would be so great because then I could read them before email time, thank you! Love you all! Keep on keeping on, wherever you may be! 

Sister Woolley

Pictures:

Sister Woolley and I at a dog park.... yes we contacted people at a dog park without dogs. awkward, but hey, what's not awkward about missionary work?

Weddings + testimonies

Hello family and friends! How is everyone doing this week?

It's getting hot. Let's be real, Florida is crazy, but I love it here.

We didn't get to teach a ton this week... it was actually a very slow week with the work. Lots of people dropped us and bailed on lessons. But we talk to everyone we see and got a few new investigators so pray that we can teach them and help them progress! 

Exchanges! Thursday we went on exchanges with the Sister Trainer Leaders (STLs) so Knutson and I stayed with Sister Lynch. Got to bike all day woo! We also went to Texas Roadhouse (not exactly the best place to be as a missionary... but yummy).

We got to help set up for the bishop's son's wedding reception! Oh so fun! I thought of the sisters who helped set up for my sister, Heather's, wedding :) Two of the members there gave us a referral too! But she ended up being in the elder's area... but hey same jersey right?

Gave another talk on Sunday! It was just a short 5 minute one for the ward to get to know me and to bear my testimony. The ward here is really friendly and took to us new sisters quick. That's really comforting because it's rough switching wards already so I'm really thankful they're helping us transition. 

Which leads me to an awesome experience- we had dinner with some members Friday night and they are just the sweetest. We've been sharing the First Vision whenever we see members, in hopes for member referrals. But it's been super spiritual. I LOVE Joseph Smith's first vision and could recite it a gazillion times. We shared it and discussed it with this one member family. I was testifying of receiving answers to prayers and just seeing the mom get tears in her eyes from feeling the spirit is really what I needed that day. This work is just awesome.

In ward council someone was talking about looking for the positive in life. I think that's something I need to apply and everyone could probably apply more! If you're looking for negative you'll find it. But if you want to see miracles and search for happiness you'll find that. Pray! God is waiting to bless you. 

I'm sorry this was so short and uninformative. I love you all!!! I pray for you everyday and hope that everything is going well and ya'll are happy :) Keep on smiling! 

Love,

Sister Woolley 

 the trio! 

helping at a wedding :)

2 Woolley + Knutson = dream team

Hey ya'll!

Wow, it feels like it's been a month since I've emailed... psych it's been a week. haha. And what a great week it was!! For starters, I was transferred to somewhere not too far from Leesburg called Winter Garden. Our Zone includes the temple!! Oh so happy :) Because that means that every week we get to do temple service! It's so amazing getting to be on temple grounds every week. And this last week we got to clean the fountains!! Meaning we got to stand in the water (closest thing ever to swimming on the mission haha) so refreshing! It was fun.

And on to my companions! Yep, that's right, I'm in ANOTHER trio. Crazy! I'm loving it though. But for some unknown reason our Mission President had some fun putting companionships together... or so it seems. If you guessed it, I'm with Sister Knutson and Sister WOOLLEY! President Berry made a really strange comment about how we will find out in the near future why he put us together. We're still confused but it's fun! When we introduce ourselves it's usually...

"Hi! I'm Sister Woolley!"

"I'm Sister Knutson!"

"And I'm... also Sister Woolley"

And then we get weird looks, and "Did you just take her nametag for the day?" "I swear we're not polygamists"... but it's a great opportunity to talk to people about family history work! And no one can use the excuse of forgetting our names haha. 

This area is TINY compared to Leesburg. But that is so nice because it means we get to bike more often and talk to lots more people. We aren't teaching quite as much here but this week there were a lot of miracles we saw with finding people. We're going through names in the Area Book of people who had been close to baptism in the past and we've been contacting them and found a new investigator that way! Her name is Yazay and she is this adorable 14 year old girl. When we met with her for the first time Saturday she still wants to get baptized and knows it's all true! She came to church yesterday and they were talking about the Priesthood in Young Women's and her face just lit up. It was the sweetest thing. Her parents aren't all for her being baptized... so please pray that her mom will start taking the lessons and allow it to happen :)

Another cool miracle! The sisters met a lady named Mary in the McDonald's bathroom last week (the Lord works in mysterious ways) and we taught her the first lesson yesterday. She's been searching for a church for her and her family. She said she would most definitely study the Book of Mormon and come to church and pray about it. WOW! How much more could we ask of her? haha. We've got high hopes for her :)

Some funny events:

A member was feeding us and showed us her swollen ankles and Sister Knutson just let slip "cankles..." I don't know if the member heard but when she left the room we couldn't keep it together haha.

There was this adorable boy we taught the new member lessons to yesterday. He is SO smart but went on to describe how he has "no common sense! Like, I don't even know what that word MEANS" and then he asked Heavenly Father to bless the chocolate we gave him haha.

Anyways! Winter Garden is going to be amazing. I love these sisters and I'm very excited for this new transfer! Thanks for the support and love I receive from each and every one of you. I'm praying for ya'll! 

3 Nephi 13:34 For anyone struggling day by day. Just don't forget to take it one day at a time. Rely on the Lord and put your trust in Him. 

Love,

Sister Woolley

Sister Woolley, Sister Woolley, and Sister Knutson :) 

Love + laughs in Leesburg

How are all my beautiful friends and family doing this week??

Let me just start by saying how quickly this transfer flew by! And.... I'm getting transferred :( It's interesting because you typically know (thanks to the spirit) before you find out and I knew I'd be leaving I just didn't want to accept it. So when we got the call we were pretty upset but hey! The Lord just needs me somewhere else and that's pretty neat :) but! There were SO many miracles this week and seriously this area is booming.

 I got to say a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday because it was "missionary Sunday". It was cool because the Ward mission leader had asked elder Wilson and I to speak and it turns out both of us are leaving! Oh my goodness, yesterday was just amazing. You guys! JR came to church and so did one of my favorite families ever, the Warrens!!! Her first time back at church in probably 15 years and his first time EVER in any church! Made my life. I'm just so happy!! We starting teach John Warren, slowly but surely :) took pictures with my favorite Ward members. I'm so happy to have gotten to serve here and meet so many wonderful people. Can't wait to come back and visit eventually!

Back to last week. Monday evening we had some fun teaching a less active family the primary song "Book of Mormon stories" - ohh so fun. Lately we've been teaching some younger kids so it's been interesting thinking of fun and entertaining ways to teach!

The first half of this week was very much a trial of my faith, and it seemed to be like that for a lot of the missionaries in my District. Ether 12:6 people, look it up! But it was amazing to see how at first, everything was falling through but as we kept going and ended up finding a new investigator! Woo! That's a miracle. 

Now let me rant about member missionaries for a second--- oh my goodness two of my most favorite people here are Shelley and Stewart Polsoni! They're the ones who we did yard work for last week and I just LOVE them. They've been coming to most of our lessons with JR and they have just been so awesome! What's really neat too is that they haven't been to church in a while because of different issues but they made time to go to Book of Mormon class on wednesday with JR and then to church on Sunday with JR too! AHHH. I can't describe my happiness :)))

Really cool side note that I hope I can explain alright...

On Friday we committed JR to be baptized on June 27th! His response was hilarious but he's excited to keep learning :) When I said goodbye to Stewart Polsoni I told him he's going to baptized JR. He then told me how, before Friday's lesson, before he even knew we were going to commit JR to baptism, he told his family that he was planning on baptizing him next month. Then we threw out the date that night. AH. It's going to happen, please pray for him!! 

Our sweet girl Hannah leaves today for Michigan and will be getting baptized on Sunday up there! We had an awesome lesson with her and her mom yesterday about the temple and she can't wait to go :) it's amazing to see such a young girl be so committed to be baptized and living righteously.

Sorry this was so long. There are so many amazing people here that I really am sad to leave. I'm so excited for those getting baptized this next transfer: JR, Hannah, the little Murray kids. Nonetheless I am excited for a new adventure and I know the sisters here will take good care of them. 

Stay awesome my dears! Pray for Leesburg, it's the greatest place ever :) I'll let you know next week where I end up!! 

Love,

Sister Woolley

Murray family!!

 Awesome district... going to miss them

 The Polsoni couple :)

Hannah!!! 

Elders and the Westerns

 Caught a frog + a lizard... just call he the gator hunter ;)

Dale :)

 The Warrens at church!

 Betty :)

Sisters + fro yo! :)

Fueling Flames Amidst a Storm

Hey ya'll!

Happy Memorial day! To all those camping out in Carpinteria--- swim in the ocean for me and go to Robettille's candy shop please! Haha, I hope it's been fun and not too cold.

We had a pretty great week! Going from a trio to a regular companionship was a slight adjustment but it's been good. For starters, we're super excited for our gator Hannah! Not sure if I mentioned her before but she's 18 and she's getting baptized next week in a lake in Michigan haha. Her mom and sister are members but she had to wait until she was 18 because her dad is not so excited about it. But she's awesome and really happy for her baptism :) she's seriously on fire- whenever we teach a new commandment or anything she's all in committing to it. we're sad we can't go to her baptism but she'll be getting confirmed in the Leesburg Ward!

On Wednesday we got to do service for an awesome less active family in the Ward. They're fixing up their yard and oh boy it's a big job. We helped them pull tons of weeds and chop lots of branches into smaller pieces. It started out insanely hot cause it was the middle of the day haha but then (welcome to Florida) it just started pouring rain! What was really fun was that the member was making a fire to cook dinner outside and we just kept the flames going strong amidst the downpour--- hence the title and knew gospel analogy. If you continually nourish the flames of your faith even when trials and faith pour down, you can keep the fire strong :)

Had an awesome lesson with our gator David. He's the one who works at Waffle House and he wants to get baptized! We set a date and are praying for him but he didn't show at church on Sunday so we're kind of worried. He's very excited to learn and has been reading the Book of Mormon so we're not quite sure what's happened- eek. The members have been really great at fellowship with him so that's a huge blessing. 

I love the members here so much! We're working with a lot of less active members of the ward and we had the sweetest experience saturday night. We stopped by one family, the Murrays, to see how they were doing (the mom had broken several ribs a couple of weeks ago... yikes). She was so happy to see us and came outside to tell us how she is really set on coming back to church finally and getting her youngest kids baptized. One is almost 9 and the other is almost 8. She just opened up about how much she wants to take her whole family to the temple and was just crying. I'm so grateful to be here with her and to help her and her family get to the temple. We're going to start meeting with them twice a week because she wants the family to have the lessons and they committed to coming to church on sunday! Pray for them, they're amazing. :) 

Thank you all so much for your love and support. I really do appreciate it and recognize it. I love you all! Don't forget to help the missionaries out in whatever area you may be in ;) haha. And never forget how much God loves you. Keep pushing forward, like the talk from last general conference-- Latter-Day Saints keep trying. Because, "In the strength of the Lord" YOU "can do ALL things". Have a wonderful week!!! 

Love,

Sister Woolley

Small world + Singing

I feel like I say it every week but holy cow there are so many miracles here my goodness.

Hello everyone! What's new? 

This week was just wonderful :) And it certainly FLEW by. Time isn't even real here haha. For starters, we're pretty upset because the trio (Sparks, Woolley, and Harthun a.k.a Sparoolthun) is being torn apart. Sister Sparks got a call yesterday that she is leaving today to serve in a different area. So Harthun and I will be here together for the rest of the transfer. Very sad! But Sparks did a TON of good while she was here and I've learned so much from her. 

Ready to see how small the world is? 

So last week we had dinner with a young couple (one of three young couples in the ward haha) and the coolest thing happened. The husband, Brian Bourgeois was telling us about his conversion story. He was young and then in his teens he became less active. He went to a fireside or stake conference and it changed his life. Two general authorities came and their talks sparked a desire in him to go on a mission. Guess who one of those general authorities was? My uncle, Robert Gay! How cool is that? So shout out to my extended family, look at the miracles that came from that fireside. The spirit was very strong as he was sharing this experience and I'm so grateful he did :)

Here's something neat! We have what we call "Key Indicators" for goals each week such as "Number of Lessons" or "Baptized" and there's a new one now! It's "Reactivated Members" because we're working with a lot of Less Active members now and I just think it's the coolest thing! And, we can now attend the temple with our converts for their first time to do baptisms as well as after a year to receive further covenants. oh so happy! That means I get to go with Betty! She's preparing to get her recommend and to take her mom's name to the temple, which will be so sweet :)

MIRACLE: three of our investigators came to church yesterday! Ah so cool. It's very stressful with so many there because you not only have three people to keep track of but then three members to make sure they're sitting with them and helping them haha. But it was the sweetest thing. They all loved it and want to come next week! J.R was one of the 'gators who came and we actually had a really neat church tour with him on Friday :) Pray for him please! We're hoping to give him a baptismal date maybe later this week, he's so great! 

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Lokotui, one of our Sister Trainer Leaders up in what we call "The Villages"- so fancy. It was a ton of fun and who knew how relaxing it would be! They have some wonderful investigators up there so it was really great :) One of them just decided that very day she was going to quit drinking coffee so we had a hot chocolate party with her! Hot chocolate in Florida when it's 95 degrees is quite interesting haha but good :)

I have been to so many funerals on my mission already, yikes. Our bishop asked us to sing again for it. We sang "Abide With Me", who knew I loved singing in front of people so much?? It was really sweet to be able to contribute to the service. I had only met the woman once and she was darling. 

One more miracle! We went to see a potential named Diana randomly earlier in the week. Stopped by and she just blew us off but told us to come back the next day. So we did. And what do you know we taught her the Restoration on her front porch with two little kids. Oh so powerful. We have an appointment this week with her and I prayyyy that she will be prepared and we can continue to meet with her family. :) 

Sorry this is so long! It's been really great out here. I'm definitely learning patience and change. As a Zone we've been talking a ton about making changes to become what the Lord needs us to be. Prayer is key and the ATONEMENT. It literally will strengthen you to overcome  anything. I've been studying it a ton this week and all about Christ's love for each of us. Read 3 Nephi 11:14-15 I just love it. 

I love you all so much!! Stay strong and remember to pray!

Sister Woolley

May 11, 2015

Hello my wonderful friends and family!

Leesburg is just awesome. This week was a little stressful, seeing as how two nights in a row our appointments bailed on us. ugh. BUT! One of the nights it was really cool to see how the Lord worked. Our appointment bailed and we were upset and then our member who was going to drive us ended up not being able to go, so it basically all worked out haha.

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful spectacular mothers out there! And to all the women who have influenced my life <3 I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY! Aww coolest thing ever. I love you guys so much :) It's great to see how happy they all are which is just so uplifting! Not gonna lie, I cried a bit after but hey! happy tears :) 

So investigators are struggling with progression which is quite frustrating... it's hard cause I just love them all SO much and they won't do the things we ask them to. We did get to see Rob and Gaby on Wednesday. They're the ones that missionaries have been meeting with for over a year. They have a lot of doubts about prayer but the other night I got to testify to them about prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, and coming to church. I know I've said it a million times but I swear it's just SO important. As Rob shook my hand when we were leaving he said to me "you'll see me at church one day" ahhhh made my heart smile :)

On a happier note! We've gotten a less active lady back to church and she now has a calling in Relief Society :D yay for member missionary work!! Now on to her family! We go over every night and they're just the sweetest family. 

Here's a cool story! Last transfer we called a potential investigator named Joe and set a time to see him. Then I got new comps and Joe bailed on us. We set another time probably 3 times and he kept cancelling... we almost dropped the poor guy. But Saturday we got to see him yay! And let me tell you- he is AWESOME. Taught him the restoration and he just loved it. My favorite part about new 'gators- when they pray sincerely for the first time. It just melts my heart :) He said in his prayer "I know the Book of Mormon is true, but I know I need to read it." Oh so happy :) Pray he'll come to church next week!!

I think my whole mission I'll be learning humility. But these last few weeks my patience is definitely being tested. I was reading in the New Testament about Christ's examples of patience- ah so sweet! Everyone go read John 17 it's the sweetest <3

Here's some fun pictures from the last couple of weeks :) Life is pretty awesome out here! Happy to be a missionary for the Lord. 

 

1. Mildred's kitten :) 

2. Us at our favorite taco truck 

3. last week's house painting excursion

4. a note I left at a potential investigator's house... the puzzle piece was on the ground.

I love you all! have a great week!

Sister Woolley

 Mildred's kitten  :) 

 At their favorite taco truck

Last week's house painting excursion 

a note she left at a potential investigator's house... the puzzle piece was on the ground