Weekly Letter--22 Feb 2011

Hello Everyone!

First off, my Mom rocks! She sent me a totally awesome package. Talk about AWESOME!

If I could express this past week in one word, I'd probably say it like this, "Mmmmm... tracting..." It was a really good week though! We tracted a lot and taught a lot of people (21 of our 22 "other lessons" were from tracting). Almost everyone here seems to be an Assembly of God member or part of the Church of Christ. Mostly Assembly of God though, and a couple of the ever-looming "Southern Baptists." I love knowing the truth. :)

Also, our district is awesome! It's a big reunion! The Sister missionaries in Woodward (Sister Grant and Sister Jensen) were MTC companions, Elder Adair and Elder Phillips were MTC companions, and Elder Kimber and I served in the Lawton district together and have been missionaries for the same amount of time. It's awesome! I'm the "oldest" missionary in the district (this is my 6th transfer in the field), the Elder Kimber on his 5th transfer (he speaks Espanol, so he was in the MTC longer than me) and then the other 4 are on their 4th transfer, I believe. All of us LOVE being in a young district! Good times, good times :)

This past week, we were looking for some places to tract and we passed be a couple of trailer parks, so we decided to give the neighborhoods a break and try the trailer parks. Well, we got to the first trailer park and walked towards the first trailer. An older lady came out of the office trailer and said, "Hey! You can't do that here!" We told her what we do and that we aren't selling anything, but she insisted that we don't "bother people." So we went down the road and started tracting the other trailer park.

As we tracted, we ran into a young Hispanic couple. They were talking while sitting on their front stairs. As we started talking with them, we discovered the man (Ray) had been really depressed lately and wanted to be happy once and for all. We read Ether 12:4 with him and told him that there is reason to hope! Then we read verse 6 and invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, promising him that if he does, he will start to notice more peace in his heart and more love in his life. He was smiling as we talked about it. It was awesome! Tracting TPNL! It wouldn't have happened if we had tracted all day in the other trailer park!

My big, profound spiritual moment of the week also came as we were out tracting. I can't remember when it happened, but I remember thinking, "They aren't here for us. We're here for them." I thought about the difference.

On one hand, they could be here for us. I would have got my mission call, a massive statewide memo would have been sent out in Oklahoma saying, "Everyone, be home! Elder Woolley is coming! Ward members and ward leaders, be on your 'A game!' Go out teaching with him and give him referrals! Nonmembers, cling on to whatever he says! OK, everyone! Get in your positions! He's coming!"

On the other hand, we are actually here for them. They live here. They have been taught many different messages from the media, friends, family, churches. They hardly see things "as they really are." We have been called to help them open their eyes. We have been sent here to help them know the truth. WE are here for THEM. The more I ponder on this, the better I feel and the more I want to go teach people, even if it's tracting all day! The more I pray for our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma, the more love I feel for them!

The gospel is SO true. How could it not be true? This is fun stuff :)

That's all for this week. Thanks for all of your love and awesome goodness! Thanks for the letters! I love you a lot! :)

Love,
Elder Woolley