December 28, 2015

So we have a mini missionary with us right now. he's a 16 year old and he's staying with us until Thursday. He sleeps, eats, and works with us all day. Pretty interesting. He has a really strong testimony though, so that's good. We started teaching April's brother, so that's been kind of cool. Don't know if he's staying here though or going back to LA.

Card from April Amor

December 21 letter

Merry Christmas! I got your box, Ken and Monique's box, a big cardboard envelope with a smaller envelope with a card from Grandma and Grandpa Weber, a card from Gma and Gpa Sherwood, and a letter telling us about El Nino.

So we are going somewhere at 10 (11 your time) and 5 (6 your time.) Do you know if all the family wants to join in on the call? I mean just like Grandma and Grandpa, Ken and Monique, John and Rachel. Let me know if more people want to join the call or come over, or what you want to do. 

I'm feeling better.

Missionary work is going good though. We're finding people and Jennifer seems to be building a lot of faith. I think she's felt the Spirit. 

Some random guy in a white van drove up, asked how we were doing, said his daughter was going to BYU and gave us a big box of expensive chocolate. Then a random old couple saw us and gave us a ride up this pretty big hill. It was the weirdest day. 

This transfer has gone by very quickly We're already half way through. I feel the Spirit teaching me a lot. And it's been leading me pretty much every day. I know for a fact that I couldn't do this without the Spirit. I probably couldn't find anyone, and my teaching would be atrocious. Any success that has happened on my mission is because of the Spirit. On multiple occasions we've arrived at places with perfect timing. Sometimes it'll even be right after someone was thinking about us. Something I've learned is that faith is an object of power. God works through faith, and miracles and priesthood power are brought through faith. I've also learned that faith is a principle of action. Faith without works is dead as the scriptural saying. So to build faith or even maintain faith we have to do things like pray sincerely, study the scriptures, go to church, and attend the temple. That is how we receive revelation, and in turn build our faith. Following the commandments is how we qualify for the Spirit, and through the Spirit we receive revelation. That is my sermon for today haha.

Anyways, hope you guys aren't too bored. Did you guys see Star Wars yet? Maybe that will make this Christmas season more exciting. 

I miss you guys, and hope you do have a good Christmas

Elder Sherwood

I'm sick.... Again... 

I'm freezing. I don't know why, but I've been pretty cold in the mornings and evenings especially. I should be used to the colder temperatures. You'll probably laugh at that since you guys are probably covered in snow right now. But yeah. And I'm sick, so that probably makes me colder. 

I've been enjoying your advent calendar. My companion is fine. We are getting along just fine. His bike broke though so we've been walking most of last week and still today. It works a whole new set of muscles than biking does. Plus he's like 6'3" so I have to practically jog to keep up with him. We've been sharing both of the videos on here with all the families in the ward. christmas.mormon.org   They're pretty cool. The church is getting really good at media. 

We finally saw Jennifer again. She and her kids were sick. We gave her a King James Bible and a copy of Our Heritage, and we are probably going to get do a formal lesson sometime this week. She watched the Christmas Devotional, and says she loves MoTab, so that's a positive sign, right? I'm pretty sure she's feeling that this is right. She just seems pretty excited when we're over there. Keep praying for her please!

But I think that's it for me!

Love you guys!

Elder Sherwood

December 17, 2015

My companion. His name is Elder Peterson, he's been out 9 months, and he's from Ohio. He's ok. He doesn't work as hard as Elder Anderson did. It's also been kind of hard to teach with him. Oh and he snores very dynamically, and very loudly. I've been sleeping on the couch all week. I'll survive though.

I'm kind of stressed right now because I'm in charge of the area. I have trouble planning and sometimes I feel like I'm wasting time. I find a lot of strength in prayer though. I feel the Spirit guiding and helping me a lot recently. I'll survive. I feel bipolar. I keep going in this extreme pattern of stress/anxiety, to being super happy and full of joy. I've also cried more times than I probably ever have in my life. But I'm ok with it because usually when I cry it's because I have to dig deep emotionally and afterwards I feel stronger so I think it's just all part of the building process that the Lord has planned for me. 

I have a special request. Can you guys pray for this lady we are teaching? Her name is Jennifer and she is the nicest lady I've ever met. She's about your age and she has 4 daughters. Her husband had a heart attack and I think it caused some brain damage. They are non-practicing Jehovah's Witnesses and when the accident happened they didn't really get any support from them. Also when people in that religion leave, or even visit other churches, they get shunned and they come down very hard on them. She's been part of that religion her whole life and it's very hard for her to take this step. So please pray for her to have the strength and confidence to make this change in her life. If there's one thing I've come to know, it is the power of prayer.

 Well that's all I can think of right now. I forgot my camera sorry I got emailed a picture I'll forward to you after this though.

Miss you guys! Hope you're having a good Christmas season!

Elder Sherwood