November 6, 2011

Dear Family:
Life sounds pretty crazy right now. So Brother Evans and Brother Standage both had heart attacks? I'm glad that Bro. Evans is ok. Wow. Life is so crazy. You never can know what will happen next. But the cool thing is, we have the gospel so even in hard times we can receive peace and comfort. When I was in the hospital for my cyst it was hard on me. I wanted to be out working. It wasn't that big of a deal and it is silly to complain, but it happened. I loved the realization I got that Christ is always with us. Anytime we struggle or have a hard time we can pray or read or listen to music. God is so wonderful to provide so many ways to receive peace, comfort, and strength. Anyway enough preaching.

The babies are super cute. The Neiswender family looks like they are happy and prospering well. I am glad that Cole is getting bigger and stronger each and every day. Curtis makes an awesome bear and Heidi is a very cute pumpkin. She has a great smile. Wait, so what happened to Rob? I am sorry about all the things breaking around the house. I have no solution. All my solutions are gospel related and I don't think prayer and reading the scriptures will help the computer work better. Sorry.

Life in the Philippines is awesome and crazy. We have lots of study time and we have plenty of people to teach. It is hard but good. I am trying hard to participate in the lessons. I have a hard time staying focused. Listening to a different language for 8 hours straight is hard. It is coming along though. I am working on learning 6 new words a day. This week has been crazy. We had a mission tour with Elder and Sister Arden. Elder Arden is the first councilor in the area presidency I think. Anyway it was good. The meeting was awesome. I learned we as missionaries need to focus on teaching better so we retain more members. We have a lot of less actives in our branch. That is the main reason it is a branch and not a ward. Also we learned that we need to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. We just need to focus more on it. It is the key to conversion. One of the things I learned today at our district meeting with the Teaching Assistants was let the Book of Mormon speak for itself or let the Book of Mormon teach people and answer their questions. Anyway the Book of Mormon is awesome.

Then on Saturday we had a temple tour. We had 11 people come. A recent convert mom, Sister Siapoc and three of her kids. Her husband's brothers wife, who is an investigator, and her three kids. Also Brother Santa Anna and his two kids. We rented a bus as a zone. It was packed. It held 58 people or so and we had maybe 65 on the bus. It was good. The temple is awesome and some other missionaries taught about the ordinances that go on in the temple, such as baptisms for the dead and eternal marriage. I think that was all. I can't remember very well. It was in Tagalog and my companion and I were trying to keep the kids from distracting the parents. We did an OK job. I think they learned something. Hopefully they remember the spirit they felt. At the end of the day after we ate food, it started to rain hard. Then the bus got stuck in traffic on its way back to us and so it was an hour or so late. It was a long day but good.

I think I am healing. There is a space still but I think it is healing up alright. Luckily for the both of us Elder Kaka doesn't have to pack the wound. He just puts some ointment on a gauze and tapes it to the wound. It's alright. Now the tape is the worst part. My companion and I get along alright. Sometimes there is a bit of a miscommunication or a small disagreement but no one is perfect. Elder Kaka is awesome actually. He is one of the best in the mission. He is awesome at planning and he is good at teaching. He has been zone leader for about half of his mission. He helps me with Tagalog. Maybe not as much as a Filipino companion could but he teaches me about the people and the culture, how to find people, making lesson plans, and setting goals. I am glad I have an awesome trainer. So Tagalog, it is one of the easier languages. They throw in some English words as well. It is hard now but I haven't been here that long. I know I just need to be patient with myself. I try hard to open my mouth and speak. That is probably the hardest now. Making sentences on the spot and having decent grammar. It is very interesting that there aren't many words to describe gender. It isn't as important. They just say Brother or Sister in English. I like it. It is hard but I know I can do it. I just need to learn the basics and what I want to say in English. That makes it a lot easier to translate if it is simple in English.

Thank you for the letter. I love you lots and wish you the best. I am excited to receive a package in a month or so. I am glad you had a good Halloween. It sounds like things are good and crazy. I love to hear from you and how life is in Arizona/California/Utah/Iowa. I love you lots and wish you another awesome week.

Love Elder Woolf