December 27, 2011

We were able to call Elder Woodard on Christmas Day.  We all huddled around the phones so we could hear.  We talked to him for just over an hour.  It was fun to hear his little accent! He talked about the work and people they were and were not teaching.  He says they are extremely busy, and he is loving it.  I was so glad to hear his voice. After talking to him my heart does miss him!

Christmas was on Sunday, and in Canada they celebrate Boxing Day the day after Christmas.  Jordan says it is like Black Friday in America.  All the banks and libraries were closed so he didn't get to email until Tuesday (Today).  We just talked to him on Sunday so there wasn't much to say. But, we still love getting our emails from him.

It was fun to talk with y'all also. Sounds like you had a great Christmas. Yesterday we went to the mall and it was crazy!!!!  It was just as bad as black Friday!!!! I bought a little remote control helicopter. It is really fun to play with. Elder Grodkowski enjoyed his presents. He was surprised that there was some for him.  Well I look forward to talking to you next week on Monday

love Elder Woodard

December 27, 2011

Dear Dad,

hahaha  I'm not sure what accent you are talking bout eh? hahaha It was great to speak to all of you. I forgot to ask how does your AR shoot? We went to the mall on Boxing Day. It's just like black Friday back home. If you thought the snow birds from Alberta drive bad, they are worse up here.  People just walk in the middle of the street when you are trying to drive. It drove me nuts. I think I will have to try praying for the elect to find us, cause we can't find them.

love elder Woodard

transfers

December 19, 2011

mom and family,

That picture of the temple is sweet!! why do you look cold in the picture? There is no snow on the ground!!!:) well i got your package. they like to send them out right before Christmas. its probably for the best. i didn't open any of the presents yet... but i did open and read the letters:) i just couldn't wait. and i figured it was better to open the letters instead of the packages:) this week was pretty good. we taught a lot of member lessons and less actives. not too many investigators. our investigator pool is a little on the slim side. its kinda frustrating too cause we are doing everything we can. but the ward isn't helping very much. and a member told us that some of the members don't like us cause when we go over we challenge them to do some missionary work and invite there friends! tell tanner that it builds character fixing the drive way by him self. tell him it will make him a better wrestler:) OK so Christmas day. you can call at 1. my companions parents are calling at 12. and will probably talk till about 1 or so. They are telling us to make sure that you only call on Christmas. So MOM make sure you don't call any other time:) I know you wouldn't do that. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas

love elder woodard

We went to see the temple lights on Sunday night and sent these pictures to Jordan.

December 13, 2011

mom and family,

 Well transfers are sweet. I'm outta time sorry. Elder Grodkowski and I are staying here in Chestermere. Should be lots of fun. That time should work. I will let you know next week for a firm time.  Tell tanner that 27 is a warm day here. Last night it was 6 and dropping. I'm sure it dropped below 0. It's about 27-30 right now and will be for the day. We usually take off our jackets:)  And tell him that one point is unacceptable, but not really that is alright. and I am excited to see him wrestle in 17 or so months

love elder woodard:)

Pictures from his first few months in Canada

still his favorite thing to do!

December 5, 2011

ok first things first.  here is the time schedule that you can call at on Christmas day between 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. oh we have church at 11 for an hour so. sometime after that would be great!!!!! this is the way that they asked us to do it. and mom you can only call on Christmas day:) if the number changes i will let you know. transfers are next wednesday. I'm still in Calgary and I'm sure i will be staying here. we have had lots of snow!!!!!!!!! and they are terrible at plowing the roads! I'm learning real quick how to drive on the snow and ice. its pretty easy. just have to slow down. my companion who is from Utah is having troubles with that:) we had a little miss hap this week. after the first snow storm (which we got about 4-5 inches) he was driving and took the corner too fast. we slid out and hit the curb. we thought we were going to be alright even with the curb there cause the are rounded however there just happened to be a storm drain there and we hit that instead!!!  it destroyed the rim and pushed the wheel into the back of the wheel well. so that car is in the shop now. than we borrowed another companionship's car to go to dinner that night. and we get up the next morning and the tire is flat! so no big deal changed tires before. well the tire iron to take the lugs was stripped so i could only get 4 outta 5 nuts off. we had to wait to for other missionaries to come and let us use there tool. it was a long day!!! but on Saturday we taught an eternal investigator (someone who wont be baptized but will let you teach them) and we hit him with a spiritual truck. it was a really good lesson. he isn't getting baptized yet. but he will. my favorite scripture is Alma 48:17. its a good one! 

  hope all is well

love elder woodard

Pictures

Yea for pictures!  After months of asking I finally received pictures from Jordan!  I am going to post a bunch of them.... not really sure who is in them, but they are fun to look at!

Elder Woodard and his friend, Elder Kallan Craegar

Sorry, but you don't know what cold is yet!

November 28, 2011

mom and family. 

  Sounds like you had a fantastic time fighting the crowds. Tell Tanner that he can't wrestle on his knees or his back!!!! I  can’t wait to come home to watch Tanner wrestle and beat me!!! He is getting big!! He is almost as tall as you!!! I did get the hat. The Zone Leaders went and got it. I can't believe that it has been 7 months!!!! Time just flies. We had a crazy week. We watched one of our investigators get arrested. It was crazy! And then we cast an evil spirit out of a house as well!! That was really intense  Evil spirits are real! But the power of the priesthood is WAY better!!!  Bro. Haynes is sweet. I'm glad that I had good friends like Tyson even if we did get in trouble!! hahaha. But not too much trouble. Time just flies, and this transfer is almost over too! I hope tanner does good on Wednesday. You will have to keep me updated with his wrestling!  hmmm as for Emily I think that dad should drive them around the town. Emily sits in the front seat and her date sits in the back of the truck with Rico!!!!!! hahahaha that sounds like a fantastic date!!!!  well have a fantastic day 

love elder woodard

November 21, 2011

happy thanks giving!!                      

there is a member in our ward that is from Pennsylvania so he is going to feed us.

I'm going to miss being at grandma's for thanksgiving! 10 pm?!?!?! that isn't Friday!!!!! that is crazy that they are doing that! why would the kids want to go shopping that day? its craaaaaazzy! me and another elder are going to go get suits today. Moore's is having a sale buy a suit for 500 and get one free. so we are going to split it. hopefully they still have the sale. I'm not going to get any more winter stuff. maybe some long Johns and gloves. my coat is doing fine. it was super cold the other day -20 with a -30 wind chill!!!!!! it was soooo cold.  I'm not going to open anything till Christmas. i probably wont get the package till Christmas.

We picked up a new investigator last Monday at 8:50 pm. it was pretty sweet. we had been trying to meet with him but he has never been home. than Monday he was. and we are going to go teach him tonight too. it is going to be sweet. the snow is still on the ground from last week. i think its going to stay till spring:( makes driving excititng though:) hope you have fun on Thursday!

love elder Woodard

dear mom and family

 Well this was kind of a slow week. I had to spend Tues. and Wed. in leadership training meetings (Ltms) from 9-6. Talk about a long day to sit in the meeting. But, I received some cool revelations to the work and how to become a better missionary.  It is getting SOOO COLD!!! It doesn't get past 32 degrees. And when we were walking into the library about 20 minutes ago some snowflakes were starting to fall. It's crazy!  I'm not sure if I will have the same companion for Christmas. Transfers are on December 14, so we will see if we are still together.  When can I go and get a new suit?  I think we might go next Monday (p-day).  Last Wednesday we tracted into this lady. We taught her a 10 minute first lesson then committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was really cool to do that. We have a return appointment on Wednesday! When is the temple going to be done? The Calgary temple is going to be done next fall some time.  When was that picture taken? I hope not last week some time cause you are still in shorts and t-shirts!!!! I'm soo jealous!

love elder woodard

Baptism

October 22, 2011

We had a baptism on Saturday. it was really cool because i got to baptize him!!!!!!!! i was really excited. i was nervous that i wouldn’t push him under the water all the way. so i pushed him under good! they said that i pushed him so far that i had like 6 inches to spare! hahaha oh well it was my first time

November 6, 2011

(Jordan sent pictures and movies....he was being fed pudding and both elders were blindfolded.  They related it to teaching with and without the spirit!)

It was our weekly district meeting and it was part of it. Besides I got free pudding. Sometimes we have so much fun I forget I'm on a mission! I love fast Sundays. I just enjoy hearing everybody’s testimony. One of our investigators is doing research on anti sites. It is terrible. I just wanted to leave that lesson. But we are going to visit him one more time and give him a chance. My companion is Elder Grodkowski and he doesn’t want to go back. But I don’t feel that dropping people is appropriate. Elder Grodkowski is from Cache Valley and this is his second transfer. So I am following up with training right now and get the wonderful opportunity to have a 2 hour companionship study instead of just one. But its alright because I really enjoy serving with him.  Umm ....I'm not really sure what I want for Christmas. There is nothing I really need except another suit cause my one doesn’t fit!!! I am getting so fat!  It's alright mom your baby is now 13. He isn't a baby anymore. It has been soooooo cold here. It doesn't get above 30 any more!!!! We got snow last Friday and I like the snow...just not the cold. Try to send the heat up here for Christmas!!!

love elder woodard

November 1, 2011

Happy p-day!!

Today is transfer p-day so tomorrow is transfers. I'm going to east Calgary. I'm pretty excited it should be fun. East Calgary is the "ghetto" of Calgary, but I'm going to the rich part of the city so you don't have to worry. Nothing really exciting happened this week. In all reality I cant remember what happened so I don't really have anything to report on. We still are having a baptism but I am not going to make it cause I'm gonna be in Calgary. But, I will be able to get mail every week!! Which should be nice if I get any. So who is in the stake presidency now? That is sweet that Tanner is wrestling! He is going to be able to beat me when I get home! Tell him to work hard and do everything that coach tells him. Hands up elbows in! It's supposed to snow on Friday!!!!

love elder woodard

mom and family

     its alright about last week. grandma and dad both sent emails so i guess its alright. we had a baptism on saturday. it was really cool because i got to baptize him!!!!!!!! i was really excited. i was nervous that i wouldn't push him under the water all the way. so i pushed him under really far! they said that i pushed him so far that i had like 6 inches to spare! hahaha oh well it was my first time! umm i keep forgetting to send your pictures.... but i will do it today (if i remember) and then on saturday we set another date for the 5th of november with our other investigator! he has really come along way since the first time we taught him!  that is awesome that tanner is doing that! i cant wait to hear about baseball season! did sister pitcher email you? i guess they want to tell the parents to start thinking about sending christmas packages so they will be here on time. why didnt you take your preschoolers to the Woodard farm? hhahaha. ya i know where Stirling is. its about 20 minutes from here. its in the zone but not in my area. 6 months has gone fast!!! next i know its going to be a year and than 2!! well i gotta write dad, kallan, vance and tyson back and only in 35 minutes. hope all is well!

love elder woodard

October 17, 2011

that sounds like fun. im glad i dont get called out in the middle of the night. it feels like its a lot colder than 50! when people ask if its cold i tell them that its freezing!!!!!!! the other day it rained for about 2 days straight. im not used to that and the high was about 5 or 6. which is cold. we call the weather about once a day just to see and the lows are in the -4 and -5 range. but thats just at night. i have a feeling we are going to get our first snow storm this transfer! well i hope she writes fast i only have 15 minutes left before im kicked off. we are going to have a baptism on your birthday!!! so happy birthday to you!!! so how do you like being an sro? are there lots of fights? i remember when we used to live there and people would always say that its a bad school. is it really that bad? i did get grandma's email and chris sent me one today as well. are they still in the ward? what about the canadian tanners? do you know what part of calgary they are from or what ward? dont forget to invite the missionaries over. even for just a lesson. they/we bring a great spirit into the home!

love elder woodard

dear dad

how did your tests go? when will you find out? that is too bad about andrew and exciting for jake! i miss playing softball it was really fun to play! that is soo cool about sister pena's mom. that is one thing that i have been taught is to give a baptismal commitment in every lesson that we have with investigators. the members are probably right though it wont happen all the time. but great miracles happen from doing it! we have some one who we committed to a date on the first lesson and is going to get baptized on your birthday! it is always cool to see people change and enter the waters of baptism! hopefully i can go with you next time you go to new york! we should take just a boys trip when i get back! gas is about 5 dollars a gallon here. its 1.19 a liter which is expensive! well i hope you pass your test.

love elder woodard

          October 11, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! and yes it was weird to have it in october instead of november.

we had 2 thanksgiving dinners. we had one on sunday with the stake president and one yesterday with some members. yes we had turkey and potatoes and all that stuff from home. and of course i ate way too much of everything including pie and my suit pants still dont fit. i took them to the dry cleaners and they let some out but they are still way tooooooo tight. do you think you could get another pair for me? if you want you could get some sweaters and stuff and just send it around christmas or something.  its been pretty warm here for the most part. but we have had a few cold days. we had a specialized training today with the president and the assistants. it was really good. they talked about setting goals and how to accomplish our goals. we have one baptismal date set on for the 22 (dads birthday) we are pretty excited about this one. he is 10 and his dad is inactive so we are activating his dad and baptizing him as well. things have been pretty good here. we had interviews last week. which were good. theres only 4 more weeks of this transfer but who's counting. i cant believe how fast time goes! its almost been 6 months already!!! well i hope all is well. oh and i will be emailing on monday next week. the library was closed this week

love elder woodard

mom and family

well my new companion is better and i am learning lots of stuff.  we set a date for the 22. she was supposed to get baptized on the 8 but she never came to church so we had to drop that date. and we have another date set on that date as well. so this month should be a good one. awe man i was excited for another package! oh well. ya we went to the church to watch conference. we watched all 5 sessions. they did talk a lot about missionary work and for the men to be worthy priesthood holders. President Monson is so funny. he really made me laugh!  umm can you send that hat? i forgot to pack it. its getting colder here. the other morning it was 2. and it dropped to -3 that night. Celsius, of course. but later in this transfer we probably will get a snow storm or two. ya tanner can use it  i dont care.  well i hope all is well.

love elder Woodard

September 26, 2011

 mom and family

     well things are going. me and my companion are doing alright i guess.  we have very different personalities and ways that we do things. but i guess this is a learning experience. i got one of the packages. the one with the bleach tips and candy. but not the other one. i probably wont get it till next friday or when ever somebody goes to calgary or comes down. i will send my pictures. i dont wanna send the card so im going to put them on a disc and send them. this week was pretty good. we set a baptismal date but she didnt come to church, so it may get dropped. then we got a referral from our zone leaders and the neighbor that lives on their 3plex is a part member family so we went to set an appointment and they invited us to dinner on thursday (this was saturday) than they came to church. it was pretty cool to see them there! man i was hoping to get the score of the game dad went to! oh well i will have to wait. i hope everything is going well. love elder woodard. oh i cant believe its been 5 months already!!

Dear mom

It’s alright i guess. well i should be getting it tomorrow its transfers tomorrow. im staying here in lethbridge. my companion is going to pincher creek. my next companion has only been out for 1 transfer longer than me. i dont know him. its just what other people have said. i havent made it to the dry cleaners yet. hopefully i will get there this week. tell tanner and hayden happy birthday for me. and thats not fair!!!! you took him to texas but you wouldnt take me!!!!! i knew you liked him more!!! oh well i guess we will have to go in 19 months. things are going pretty good around here. our investigators arent really progressing. we got some names from the bishopric and hopefully will be teaching them this week. it was really windy on sunday i thought i was going to blow away! than yesterday was rainy and cold. the high was 8! i am not looking forward to the winter! hope all is well

 love elder woodard

dad, im not sure if there is anything to take out of the  pants. but i will try. i have been looking at the thrift stores for new suits but nothings seems to fit. that is crazy about the flooding! when did this happen. i think that would be fun to go down the street in a canoe unless my house was destroyed by the water. well lethbridge reminds me a lot of mesa except not as many people. the city is set up in a grid system. so its easy to get around. except all the streets have numbers instead of names. well we dont have the most solid investigators. some of them are native. they basically feed you the answers you want to hear but never keep the commitments. so we have dropped a lot of them. and our other investigator keeps commitments but her family is back in the philipines and she doesnt believe in the preisthood. so she doesnt want to get baptized. we dont do any tracting here. but sometimes we walk around the park and gq(general questioning) people. (mostly natives) its sometimes a waste of time. but we have met some very intresting people. a lot of the natives here are drunk all the time and they ask for money. its kinda sad that they live like that and the government supports them. so when are you going to get grandma. the other day we were in the store and a U2 song came on. it made me think of you. when ever we go on a road trip its all we (you) listen to. we have had some great trips all those years.  hope all is well

love

elder woodard

Mom dad and family(and whoever else my mom sends this to:) )

well it sounds like you are partying with out me. i guess i can expect that from you!! i think its Galations 5:22-23 that talks about the feelings of the spirit. we really try to emphasize the importance of the spirit to our gators. its only through the feelings of the holy ghost that they are going to be converted.that is a lot of kids to be at larry's!!!! OH mom ummm...i have gained a few pounds(about 20!!!!!!!) and the suit that we got for prom a year ago. the pants dont fit any more. so i was wondering if you could go and get another pair of pants from khols. its the billy london brand and its stripped. could you get 32/32. thanks very much:)

i am having good experiences out here. i really enjoy serving. its lots of fun. well yesterday was pday. but we couldnt email because the library was closed for labour day(thats how they spell it) everything is in french/english here. and 5k is pretty far for us. im really getting used to the metric system with kilometers and celcious. except for things like centimeters and little measurements like that. but we are supposed to be wearing our jackets now. but the rule is if there is 3 days above 22 forcasted than we get one day off. this whole week is forcasted above 30! its pretty warm for this time of the year here. but the mornings are cold. we get up every morning at 6 to go run with the zone leaders. sometimes 6 comes quicker than i would like. the work is pretty good. our investigators arent really keeping commitments. but hopefully we can help them with that. hope all is fantastic

love

elder woodard

dad, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sooooooooooooooooooo jealous!!!!!!!! that is going to be a great game!!! i wish i could enjoy it with you. GO OKLAHOMA!!  that should be a good experience driving with Nate. hopefully you will get an opportunity to share your testimony with him. tell hayden to keep up the good work and to work hard. ...........

love

elder Woodard

mom and family,

its a good thing we are emailing late today because i cant stay on forever. i only get an hour and we have to reserve computers at the library and we usually go at 11.  well nothing much happend this week. it was a little slow. but it is what it is. so when did the cat have kittens? i dont remember. freakshow looks kinda funny! that is crazy about the phone going down. what happend? this transfer is half way over!!! time is just flying!! the next thing i know im going to be done. we dont have very many investigators but we do have a few. we havent really met with them much because they are busy and so are we. but hopefully we will meet with them soon. so how is the perry plan working for you? you should give it a try and see what happens. hope all is well

love elder Woodard

dad,

ya i have heard of the im a mormon ads. they are pretty cool. you should watch some of them and mormon messages too on lds.org. they are pretty sweet. we usually share mormon messages with members when we teach them. the time is deffinately going fast. its already been 4 months and this transfer is already half way over! pretty soon i will be home. the investigators from sparwood arent baptized yet but they have a date and are going to be baptized on september 10. im excited for them. i just wish i could be there for it. oh well. we dont have very many investigators here. its hard to get the members motivated to do missionary work here. and most of the ward is above 70 years old!!! there are soo many old people in the 2 wards i cover. just remember to invite your friends and to feed the missionaries when you can. their(our) budget doesnt give us enough money for food for 3 meals a day for a month. im sure that you can set up an appointment for dinner when you get home. well i hope all is well.

love, elder woodard

mom and family,

     well we have the same thing. we are always challenging the members to invite your friends. and president wants us to get 20 lessons every week. and the lessons aren’t just investigator lessons. they are member lessons and less active lessons. missionary work has changed soooooo much since you and dad have gone. we invite them to be baptized in every lesson even on the first. and they really stress the importance of the members in the work. they don’t really want us to find investigators. they want the members to do it for us. they want them to invite their friends. the members find and we teach. oh and i think we got 20 lessons last week

      yesterday we had mission tour. elder baxter from the 70(i think the first quorum) came and he was the general authority there. we all got to go up and meet him and his wife and shake his hand. it was really cool. he gave us  training on the importance of members in missionary work. he said that investigators are more likely to convert and have a lasting conversion if the members are involved. he told his conversion story of him and his family. the missionaries that taught him brought a fellow shipper that was good for his family. and the member invited them to church and to sit with them. he told us that it is more powerful for the members to invite their friends to do stuff rather than the missionaries. he also talked about consecrating ourselves and loosing ourselves in the work. it was a really good experience. he was asking us questions and what we thought rather than him just teaching us. it was really cool to talk with a general authority,  i hope everything is well and the weather cools down!

love elder woodard

dad,

that is sooooo cool that tanner is doing that!!! when i was in b.c. we saw eagles and hawks and big birds like that all the time. we had 5 pet osprey. well... they had a nest on a power line next to the elk river. but we claimed them as ours and always honked as we drove by and they would always look at us and sometimes be on top of the nest and spread their wings. it was really cool.

     oh the arizona heat. i don’t miss it that much. it was about 32 yesterday which was really warm!! but that’s the hottest i have seen it.  that is crazy that emily is going to start driving. what are you going to do about vehicles? i hope she doesn’t get a brand new car!!!!! but if she does i guess i will be alright with it... in ten years! hahaha .........

love elder woodard

August 15, 2011

dad,

well lethbridge is... different. there are no mountains here which is a bummer. but the city is a lot bigger than sparwood. there are about 80,000 people here. there is about 20 missionaries in the lethbridge zone. the temple is in cardston which is about 45 minutes away. my companion is elder biehn (bean) he is from bountiful utah and has been out for 21 months. so he is about to go home. we are getting along just find. we have pretty much the same personality. its fun serving with him. we cover 2 wards of about 150 each that were there on sunday. maybe a little bit more. its like 5 times bigger than sparwood. the city is pretty cool. its on the prairie. there are hardly any driveways. just back alleys. and there are lots of trees by the houses that give shade. its kinda like new york a little except not as humid. that was good of mom to invite them over to the house. you should invite them to take the discussions in the home as well. if they say no at least you gave them the opportunity to learn more. they still have their agency if they wanna learn more. remember that you are always a missionary. even if you aren't preaching. people are always watching.

hope everything works out

love

elder woodard

August 15, 2011

mom and kids and everybody else!!!!

well lethbridge is nice. it reminds me of new york except not as humid. its been pretty cool here its been about 25/27 which is great weather. that is cool that hayden made the baseball team. keep working hard!!!! and that emily  made the show. i have a letter for emily.... but i havent sent it yet cause i have not made it to the post office:)  that talk from president utchdorf about hope is a good one. we have the mormon messages on dvd and share them sometimes with members for member lessons. and than talk about the message. that one on hope is one of my favorites. you should watch president eyrings "choose this day" you can watch them on lds.org. no you didnt tell me that eben was going to ohio!!!! that is sweet for him to go!!!!!!! what else is going on that you havent told me eh??? well we email at the library now so i dont have as much time as i did in sparwood. but im glad everything is going well!

love elder woodard

August 9, 2011

Dear Family,

Well I'm going to Lethbridge tomorrow. I'm kinda bummed. hunting season is about to open out here. hmmmm now that I think about it maybe that's why I'm getting transferred. oh well. and great things are about to happen out here!!!!!!! There should be about 5 baptisms this next transfer in Sparwood. I'm really sad to leave this area. the people here are amazing. and I just love the mountains and area!!!!  I guess I will be able to get the pictures and stuff to you.  well I gotta go pack. Hope everyone is alright.

love elder woodard

August 1, 2011

 July went by really fast. these past 3 months have gone by fast. I'm finally starting to get in the groove of things. me and elder Harris got to speak yesterday as well. i spoke on missionary work and the importance of members in that. it was really good. i almost passed out towards the end of my talk. I'm not really sure why though. my companion was in the shower this morning and we got a knock on the door. i guess the drain in our tub broke or something. but water was coming through the roof and was starting to flood their apartment! it was nuts! so the land lord called a plumber and they are going to come tomorrow and fix it. that is really sad for that family. do you know who the family was? i have learned that home teaching and that missionary work is very important. well i hope everything is going great back home.

love

elder woodard

August 1, 2011

mom and family

       It hasn't been too hot here. The hottest its been is about 30 (which is 92 Fahrenheit). It's not too bad. I can deal with it. I wish I could have gone to the lake with Hayden. I love going to the lake! I got ran over by a trailer on Saturday. but I'm all right. We were helping members on their farm put the hay onto the trailer and my foot got a little too close to the tires and it got ran over. but don't worry I am fine and nothing is broken. It doesn't even hurt. That's crazy that school is starting. Kids here still have like another month before they go back, but they got out the end of June or so. that's good that you got Ema back. is she getting into the terrible 2 stage yet. just remember. just keep swimming just keep swimming swimming swimming. Things are going good here. I hit 3 months last Wednesday and August 10 is transfers! I am pretty sure that I am staying here another one (and hopefully 2!!) We had an investigator come to church yesterday!!! He called us about 8 o'clock (church starts at 10) and said he couldn't make it. but than he showed up!!!! We were really excited about that. Me and my companion got to speak yesterday. Towards the end of my talk I started getting really hot and sweaty, and i felt like i was about to pass out. But I am doing lots better today. Nothing much is going on. Lots of people are gone for the summer. Things have slowed way down. I'm not looking forward to the snow!!!  So how are things going at home and in the rest of the great state of Arizona? (which i miss AZ a lot)

love elder woodard         

July 25, 2011

dad,

the weeks go by very fast(sometimes) i hit 3 months on wednesday! and this transfer is already half over! well i have done hard manual labor too. we have redone 2 roofs. and laid sod twice, and have moved two families! its nice to get out of the suit everyonce in awhile. i have learned how important the members really are when it comes to missionary work.  i have yet to share a lesson when we go tracting. and we go about 3 times a week when we have nothing to do. but when the members invite their friends we always get at least one lesson with them. every member a missionary. and we dont have to be out knocking doors to do missionary work. a lot of the time its our example that gets people asking questions and thats when we need to take the opportunity to share the gospel and what we know to be true. we had a really good week. we taught 19 lessons this week. and we taught gospel principles yesterday and it went really well. one of our investigators who comes every week with her husband (he is a member) finally admitted that she has a desire to quit smoking. and hopefully we can help her find the answer she wants. nothing much is really happening here. it was rainy and cold the past couple of days and it is today. we are going to cranbrook today for zone pday and special training tonight. it should be fun. tell mom thanks sending the package and tanner and emily for the cookies.  hope all is well

love

elder woodard

July 18, 2011

mom and kids,

hahaha thats funny about the blog spot. i tried it today but i cant get on because of the fire walls and stuff in the church. im excited to get my package. thank you so much for doing that.  were you able to find the lower part of the bleach tray? sis gurr is the best. they have been out of town for the past 2 weeks and just got back yesterday. she is my mom away from home. well we are still trying to teach kiara's parents. but they have been super busy. and everybody else has dropped us. oh well i guess they werent ready. but its alright. we have 2 solid gators except they have to be married first. and they dont wanna do that right now. but we willl over come their concern. russel hatch called me on friday. wanted to meet up with me. but we were in cranbrook. about 2 hours away. i hate driving to cranbrook because it reminds me so much of driving on the rim and going camping with the family. things have been pretty slow here. but we are working hard. i cant beleive its almost been 3 months!!!!! and my second transfer is half over!!! hope everything is going well

love elder woodard

July 18, 2011

Dad,

i love mondays as well and getting your emails. im glad i have chosen to serve the lord. it is teaching me lots of things. things were a little slow this week. but we still did all right. on friday night i recieved a call from somebody you know. it was elder russel hatch. he was driving through blairemore which is about 25 minutes from sparwood. he wanted to take us to dinner. but we were 2 hours away in cranbrook. my companion is district leader and he gets to go on splits with the other missionaries in cranbrook. and i get to go to which is nice. its nice to see other missionaries. cause i dont get to see them that often.  that is something i need to start praying for. i pray that i will find them. not that they will find me. i dont have the kids emails. just yours. im sorry about charlotte. tell hayden everything will be ok. and that im sorry that happend. hope all is going good for you. oh how did your softball team do? im sure its over now

love

elder woodard

July 11, 2011

dear family,

have you invited someone to meet with the missionaries in your home yet? you should do it. just invite. the worst they say is no. we are having a real hard time in getting the members to do missionary work!!!  they accept the challenge i think just to be nice. but none of them actually do it. and some of them don't really want to. so we don't really have that many investigators. only like two.  hmmmm what to do on pday today. oh i bought a gps unit for our car on saturday. its a garmin nuvii. i paid $50. it was on sale and i have been looking to get one so when i leave sparwood i wont get lost:) well nothing much has happened this week. hope all is going well

love elder woodard. oh these are past pday's that we have had.

 

July 11, 2011

dear dad,

so how are things going in the bishopric? just remember that the Lord can do all things according to his will. if we just align our will with His than He will provide a way for us to accomplish the things He wants done
Love,
Elder Woodard

July 4, 2011

:) so my companion has the song "let them be little" on his ipod and everytime i listen to it it makes me think of home and i get a little sad. what movie did you put it on? you should make me a movie and send it to me!!! im starting to have withdrawls from not listening to music!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh what am i going to do!!?!?!?!  being out here in sparwood during the summer is terrible!!!!!  everybody goes camping and leaves for the whole summer!!!! its crazy. im surprised we had 18 lessons this week.  pday out here is kinda boring sometimes. cause its just me and my companion and we dont know wat to do. but we will figure something out. we joke about going to the border to celebrate independence day. its only about 30 minutes outside our area. but we arent going so dont worry. ya im still with the same companion. im not the youngest in the mission anymore!!!! we got new missionaries!! whahooo!!!! well i hope everyhting is going well for you.

love

elder woodard

June 28, 2011

forgot to tell you that on transfer week pday is on tuesdays. I'm staying here in sparwood!!! which I'm happy with. i love the mountains.  we are going to the island lake lodge to hike around!!! I'm really excited. you should check it out!!! it would be a great place for you and mom to have an anniversary. the fernie ski hill is not to far from the lodge. and they have cat skiing where a cat tractor takes you up the hill and then you ski down. it sounds like lots of fun!! and you can tell mom that they have a spa for her to go to if she doesn't go skiing with you!!!  yesterday was my birthday. i turned 2!!! and the new missionaries come in today so i wont be the youngest missionary anymore!! did you get my letter? i think the strike is over now and the post is working again(i hope) how are you going to get grandma? are you going to fly out there and than drive back? or are you going to drive the truck out there and back? how are the gas prices? they are about $1.30 a liter here. which is $5.20 a gallon. it costs about $70 to fill up are subaru. we fill up about every week and a half. I'm still working hard. i hope all is going well

love elder woodard

June 28

well surprise!!!!! today is pday and not yesterday!!!  its transfers tomorrow so on transfer week pday is on tuesdays. yesterday was my birthday!!!! i turned 2. i was pretty excited. we went mountain biking last pday and took some sweet pictures... but i forgot my camera so i cant send you any pictures this week but i will send them next week. i think riding bikes is therapy for me. cause the week before we rode we didn't have a very good week. pretty much all our investigators dropped us. but than we rode on monday and i felt a lot better!!! anyways this week was alright. we have a new investigator. and things are progressing slowly but surely!!!  i cant really remember what else happened this week. it was kinda slow. we didn't have very many appointments or lessons which made for a slow week. but the new missionaries come today!!! so I'm not the youngest missionary any more. oh and I'm staying here in sparwood this transfer and probably the next one to. i hope i get out of here by september so I'm not tempted to hunt!!!!! hahaha i wont be hunting for two years i promise. we went to a former investigators house yesterday just to see how she was doing and she went hunting last saturday and shot this brown bear that looks like a grizzly!!! it was a beautiful bear!!!  we are going up to the island lake lodge today to hike around and stuff. it is beautiful up there!!! we may or may not have driven up there when we were on lunch. but you should check it out!!! well i hope all is well.  FIND SOMEONE FOR THE MISSIONARIES TO TEACH IN THE HOUSE!!!!! i promise that as you sincerely do this and trust in the Lord that he will bless you. write me back and tell me how that goes!!!  oh yesterday was a little warmer. it was about 25 celsius. which is like 85 fahrenheit!!!! the sun is finally showing!!! we have had rain almost everyday this past 2 weeks!!!!

love elder woodard

June 20, 2011

well i got your email in time. we are emailing a little bit later than usual. but its alright. your hair looks really good. I'm not sure when you will be getting my letter. canada post is being dumb right now. they are on strike in toronto and i think that is the main hub for out here I'm not sure. but 2 days after i sent it our mail office here in town was locked out and they are still locked out. so nobody is getting their mail for awhile. but you can send letters and packages to the po box in montana. can you please send my boots!!!!!:):):) i really miss wearing them. and just my zip up jacket that i can wear on pdays. this week was a little rough. we had 3 investigators drop us in the last 3 days. and 2 other ones we haven't been able to get in contact with for a week!!! its kinda frustrating. but it is what it is. yes i am wearing my retainers!!!! and eating my fruits and vegetables. I HAVE GAINED 10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!! i feel soooo fat and out of shape. i guess its time for me to start working out again..... maybe i will do it another time:) hahahaha. well i hope everything is going good. find someone for the missionaries to teach in the home!!!! it can be anybody. don't be afraid to ask

love

elder Woodard

Pioneer Trek!

Emily and Tanner



Tanner and Dad

just like a boy!

What a great experience for Emily and Tanner. All the youth in our stake ages 14-18 traveled for three days like the pioneers did.  They pulled their belongings in a handcart while traveling the dusty roads.  They ate food and did activities similar to the pioneers.  John and I went up with others to help with the activities.  We were with the Rays to help the youth make journals.  There was the handcart pull where just the girls and women had to pull the handcart up the hill, while the men and boys joined the Mormon Batallion.  They felt the spirit and gained a greater appreciation for what the early pioneers went through.  What a wonderful expereince our stake provided for our youth.