Moving! - Week 10

I had a crazy week! Too much has happened but I will try my best to sum it up!!

First off some fun things of the week- I met a nice Phillippina who knew Grandma and Grandpa Woolley from when they served here! That was super fun and I was proud to be here just like them working in the same beautiful country! She had great things to say about them and it's great to have so many connections to this amazing city!

Not as fun-our washing machine broke this last week just like everything in our apartment haha so I ended up hand-washing all my clothes, definitely got to appreciate washing machines and my apartment mates had a good time laughing at me calling me a peasant haha.

Last p-day lunch in Fen Ling with Elder Sy and apartment mates

I met this random old white guy names Steve and he was the coolest! We talked to him for like half an hour in the park, he was in his 70s or so, and his father had actually had the missionaries over a few times back when he was just like 12, and he said he still remembers the feeling they had, telling my companion and I that we just had the good mormon 'aura' about us, just like those missionaries from when he was a kid. I was pretty amazed how much he remembered, he said when he was a kid he felt like they saw right into his soul when they looked at him and could tell his feelings, obviously he was very impressed by them. Just reminded me we never know what seeds we plant and what impressions we can give people just by doing the work!

Ryan and Elder Sy saying good bye to Jason - such a strong convert

This Thursday Elder Sy and I got a phone call telling us that our area (Tolo South) is being closed down and reabsorbed into one big Tolo Mission because there aren't enough Mandarin missionaries here to keep it separate, apparently there are 22 more Cantonese missionaries coming and some of the tri-lingual missionaries are flipping to cantonese to train, so I will be finding out tomorrow where I will be moving to. It was honestly pretty heartbreaking news.

The other elders office in the apartment

I have put in many many long hours of work in this area with my companion bringing it back to life and really just started to feel lots of progression and results, so I was pretty sad when we got the call. We have been turning all of our investigators over to the Tolo North Elders who will be taking over the whole Tolo area which is gonna be pretty huge. It's been pretty sad turning them over and trying to help them understand why we can't teach them anymore, but I really gained a perspective for how much the Lord has blessed my companion and I as we have been humbled here, and worked our hardest. I was reminded of a quote from Preach My Gospel that says Jesus completed all that the Father sent him to do, and I really felt comforted that my companion and I have done our very best to complete all that we were sent to this area to do, and that we have left this area alive and much more active than when we started. I have truly gotten to see and better recognize blessings and mercies of the Lord in my life as I served this area. I really love here and the ward, but I'm excited to see where I go next! I will also definitely miss my companion, I have learned a lot from his positive attitude, and especially from his humility. But it has helped me to resolve to always be doing what the Lord sent me here to do, so whenever I get moved I can always feel satisfied and know that i have tried to do the Lord's will. It has definitely been the hardest months of my life, but easily the most rewarding, and I'm excited to see where all of our investigators can go with the foundation we've given them, and with the guidance of their new missionaries.

Last time these two are together!  What a
wonderful trainer!!

 This week we had our last lessons with a bunch of investigators and it's great to just see the change in them, the difference in desires, happiness, and action. We even got our communist buddy Summers to pray for us! As simple as that might sound it was honestly amazing, and he did such a great job I knew he felt the power of prayer! I also had the opportunity to be interviewed by one of our investigators who studies journalism, where I basically told my farewell talk to him and I once again felt the missionary purpose, and I'm excited for him because he has to re-listen to his recording a bunch of times to analyze it, transcribe it, and other stuff so I'm hoping the more he listens to it the more the Spirit can work on him!

Recently I have been studying a conference talk each week, and this last week I read Uchtdorf's talk about being 'satisfied' with out church membership experience. One of his points was asking if we are making things too complicated. I feel that that is something that happens a lot in missionary life, because there is just so much to work on, so many things to improve, that it's easy to just flounder a little bit unless we take a step back, look at it from 'a higher plane' and realize the most simple and foundational thing that we need to do, which is come unto Christ. So I decided to every day find a characteristic of Christ that is highlighted by my scripture study every week, and it's been really effective on helping refocus everything around my missionary prupose. I have been reading Alma 25-27 this week which have been great and inspiring missionary scriptures, and something that stood out to me was mercy. Ammon talks about how he relied on the mercy of the world, and the mercy of the Lord to get through his mission, and made me think a lot about how everything is according to the mercy and grace of the Lord. He suffered unimaginable pain because he loves us and because of his mercy, so that everyone can have some way, some hope for a better life. And according to his mercy we are able to be forgiven, to move on, to start anew, to have success, and to be more than we are! I can't imagine the love, and the mercy he has for us, that he would willingly do what he did for us, to give us that great gift of mercy. He gives us success as a gift of mercy, forgiveness, happiness, everything! So who are we to with hold that from others? I think of the people I have met here, some really quite lost, asking us why they feel empty, sad, confused, bored, or even feel nothing. And we get to help fill them up, to feel something new that they have never felt before that makes them more. It's hard to explain the difference in people that we teach other than there is just more to them. More depth, happiness, direction, and understanding. And it is because of the mercy of the Lord, and what he did, so that we can all be more.

I dont know if this letter makes any sense because I am extra rushed today, but I love you all, and I'm sad but excited to move onto where God would have me serve Him and His children! 

Good Bye Tolo harbor

Beautiful sunset on Tolo Harbor

Love,

Elder Woolley