February 18th's Email

Mammm. Hi. I am good. I am teaching people the gospel, and baptizing Andrea
this Sunday!!!!!!!!!! Well, not me, but she will be baptized Sunday. (((:
Today we did grocery shopping, carried it all home and now i am at the
library writing emails. After, we will go to Milano to see the duomo one
last time before i go home, get some gelato, and some panzarotti. I am
happy. My members have seen me cry over how much i love them so they are
praying for me that i will feel okay coming home, and what do you know.
PRAYER is working. I am not dreading it to say the least. Heavenly Father
this week has really just shown me what i need to do when i go home, and
how i will need to be, and that is exactly what i will do. I understand
that it's time.. and honestly i dont have a clue what i am going to do.
After the Sunday and i give my talk, i don't know where i am going to work,
where i will eventually move to, or go to school but i do know that
Heavenly Father has a plan very specific for me, and as i pray to Him and
ask for His guidance in every decision i make, my life will be fullfilling.
I realized as i reread my call yesterday that every promised blessing in
that call has been recieved. I have felt every single one. What i realized
is that the blessings don't stop when i take the tag off. They will just
come in a different way. I will have to work harder to feel this way. I
will have to put every effort in that i have to listen and to follow what
He would have me do, but that is part of the fun! That is part of the next
'mission' He is sending me on. I can honestly say that i care about nothing
other than what i have learned here.. In the world we get so focused on
meaningless garbbage that really, doesn't matter. All i care about are the
people that i love and how i can help them progress on this path. That day
when i was in sacrament meeting when i heard that voice in my head telling
me to go on a mission was the day that Heavenly Father literally saved my
life.. He has billions of children and He wanted to save me and my
eternity, so He called me here because that was the only way. It is
amazing. Too often we say, we are children of God, we will recieve this,
and we need to do this.. But too often we forget to say, I am a literal
child of God, I will recieve this, and I need to do this, and He loves me.
He knows ME. That is amazing. As i have felt this love this week, i
understand more fully that He sent me here to yes, help others, but most of
all to help me. I couldn't fulfill His plan for me if it wasn't for this
year and a half.. I couldn't help others the way i need to for the rest of
my life if it wasn't for this. And that is why coming home is okay, because
it is part of His plan and He will guide me just like He does here if i
live and do what i have learned to do. I am soo grateful! I can't wait to
see everyone. I can't wait to go back to the temple, and i am so excited to
continue life living the only way that will bring full happiness here and
in my life to come. LOVE YOU ALL!
and i finally got my Italian companion that i have always wished for... if

only for one day, but hey, i GOT HER.

Do good things. ((:
Love, Sorella Woods

From Cristal's mission president

Dear Brother and Sister Woods,

 

For the past eighteen months, your daughter, SisterCristal Marie Woods, has been faithfully serving in the Italy Milan Mission, teaching the gospel to the Italian people. The time is approaching for her to return home and begin a new phase of her life.

 

Sister Woods entered Italy on 16 Oct 2013, and served in the cities Sanremo, Bergamo and Pavia.

 

Sister Woods has represented the Church and the Lord well. I understand the importance of her personal progress and pray for her success as she returns home. Please help her to keep the wonderful patterns that she has developed as a missionary, so that they may become habits for her life.

                

We express our deepest gratitude for the missionary labors of Sister Woods here in Italy.  We would like to thank you for your great contribution in rearing and training your daughter to serve the Lord, and for your sacrifice, love and support to her during her mission.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Anziano Kekoolani

Segretario della Missione

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via A. Gramsci 13

20090 Opera (MI)

Italia

Tel: 39 02 5760 0860

Dying miracles..

That is just what i am going to call every miracle that comes our way because i don't think i have ever had sooo many amazing miracles all in the same week.. I think it's Heavely Father's way of maybe saying, 'thanks, well done my good and faithful daughter..' Speriamo di si ameno. So i am too lazy to write it ALL out but i will give you the short version. We were on scambio. I left Sorella Warren in Piacenza and the other Sorella and i were almost all the way home to Pavia. Mind you it's già 8:30 at night and all of a sudden my brain thinks KEYS.. They are with Sorella Warren.. So i call them, freaking out because we are going to have to sleep at the train station or get to Piacenza at 11o'clock at night.. So we are pulling up to another station and the missionaries on the phone in Piacenza said that we could maybe get off there.. I am thinking they are nuts because this train station is TINY and takes you nowhere but the Spirit said get off so as the doors were closing we hopped off and what do you know.. The trains take you no where invece di Pavia and Milano.. and then all of a sudden i realize that we are literally 10 minutes from the mission office. I will never ignore inspiration even though at times it seems the outcome is ridiculous.. Communquay we called the office Anziani and in the end of it all they came and got us with extra keys, and we got a car ride home. MIRACLE. Next.. This past week i was supposed to get a ride to consiglio from another Sorella but the snow was so bad that they got stuck on the road so Sorella Warren and i needed to take a train.. First of all, i will never take anything that happens as an accident again after this even if it seems inconvienent at first, GOD ALWAYS HAS A PLAN. So we sit down and this man sits next to us and he opens up a book. I look at him ask him if he likes to read and he turns out to be the most excited person to meet missionaries that i have ever met. He even gave me a gold plated pen because of the fact that i am out here giving my life to help others.. Good deal! He said he would come to church and get a BOM but people say that quasi every day so we got his number, and left him with a lesson and prayer. Well Sunday morning comes around and what do you know.. He shows up. He was with a member the whole time and took notes all three hours. Can anyone say ELECT?! We asked him how he felt after and he just gives us the biggest smile and said 'i am happy.' Such a simple answer that just struck my heart. Of course you are happy. LOOK WHERE YOU ARE! We also had Andrea with us and she gets baptized next SATURDAY! and a less active came to church with her two kids without us even pulling her to get here this week. SUCH AN AMAZING WEEK.. Tender mercies of the Lord kids.. and last but not least. We were at a train station Sunday night. Usually we stay outside to wait for the train but it was freakishly cold so we went to the waiting room they have.. This kid just walks up to us and says 'who are you?' And that is when it turned into teaching the whole room of people. We were able to get a number from one man, and a new investigator and her friend. Most amazingggggg week ever. I am so blessed. This Spirit i feel every day is so strong. I just start randomly crying with people now as i realize time is coming to a close.. They probably think i am absolutely crazy. I understand that i need to come home but it doesn't change the fact that it's hard. I love this gospel. I never knew how much love i could have tell i came here and found this love for my italians and this love for the gospel. This is why i am so grateful for eternities. It would be pointless to love so much and to feel so much if there wasn't anything else. I know there is with my whole heart. I know it is the gospel and every question we could ever have is answered through it. Love you all!

Con amore, 

 Sorella Woods

Hey, hey, heyyyy...February 4th's email

It's not fat albert... it's sorella woods!!! yayyy..

So every day is just flying by but we are having a BAPTISM!!!! 21 of february. I could not feel more blessed that Heavenly Father is letting me help at least one more person reach this step. I wish everyone could understand how important all this is. The decisions we make on earth are so important because in the end they need to be leading us back to our Heavenly Father. I understand that free agency is a gift.. one of the most precious gifts we were given but i also feel the need to just slap people sometimes and stick my brain and heart inside of them so they could feel the joy and happiness that only, ONLY the gospel brings. It has been the greatest blessing to be able to show my Heavenly Father and Savior the appreciation i have for all they have given me by serving His children. By bringing them the only thing that matters in this life. That to me is the only way we show them our love by giving up the stupid crap only the world has to offer and accepting to do the will of the Father whatever it might be... cioè we serve our brothers and sisters.. We love them and we share with them what we were so blessed to have. We do what Presidente Monson asked, we lift those who need to be lifted and love those who need to be loved. It is the only important thing and honestly the only truly fulfilling thing. 

so basically this week i hate the way people use their free agency.. one of the best things i have heard is when Elder Bednar said we were not given agency to disobey. 

good, busy week.. Hopefully gets even busier so i can do all i can and get on that plane dead from exhaustion. 

Love Sorella Woods