Romans 8:16-17

Romans 8:16-17 

 16 The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; ^aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we ^bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

This week was a good week! We taught alot of lessons and had great experiences. We have a new investigator named XXXX. He met us just earlier this past week and came to church for the first time on Sunday. In our Priesthood meeting the teacher mentioned that if anyone ever wanted to teach the class to just let him know and he could set it up. So today our new investigator texts us and tells us that he was studying the manual this morning and then asks if anyone had anything planned for the lesson next week! He wants to teach the class! haha. He's so awesome! That’s just a taste of what’s going on in this area. A lot of miracles are happening. We're teaching a couple families that are really solid and sincere. They are progressing well. 

This week in our mission as a whole did really well. Several records were broken in our mission this week. The Rogers zone taught 536 lessons. The previous record for our mission was somewhere in the high 300's. It was ridiculous. Then records were set this week for progressing investigators, new investigators etc. I'm not sure who set them or exactly what the new records are. It was just a great week. Miracles are happening. The work is hastening. And the church is true. 

The scripture I chose to put in the subject line is one of my favorites. I may have put it there previously but that's ok. It's awesome. Revelation from God comes in the form of Spirit speaking to spirit. Often times we think the answers to our prayers should be dramatic, loud and clear, etc. But they are not. They are soft, subtle, quiet. The Spirit, speaking to our spirit. We are God's Children. He is our Father. There is no more fundamental truth that that. And He intends to make us into the glorious beings that we can become. That’s how he sees us. In an eternal perspective. Not with the limited mortal eyes that we have. I pray that we can all learn and remember our true identity as sons and daughters of God. Those are my thoughts for today :) I love you all so much! 

Love,

Elder Sherwood

Mosiah 4:9

Mosiah 4:9 Believe in ^aGod; believe that he is, and that he ^bcreated all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all ^cwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not ^dcomprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

This week was a good week! It was a little weird because we had a zone conference on Tuesday and then New Year’s Eve that night. Then later this week Elder Stapley had the flu. So it wasn't a normal week but it was still good. I got to go on exchange with Elder Koetting! My first trainee! Twice! He came and worked in our area with me on Friday. It was awesome! He has improved so much since I was with him this past summer. It's so cool to see his progression and to know that I had a part in helping him get started as a missionary :) 

Today we are heading down to Tulsa for MLC. That stands for Mission Leader Conference. It's a conference with President Shumway and all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the Mission. Tonight we will have a fireside meeting where President Shumway will teach us something, I don't really know what but I've heard it’s awesome. Then we spend the night in the mission home and on Tuesday we council together as mission leaders and discuss the needs of the mission and ways that we can progress the work here in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission. It's gonna be so awesome to be able to go back to the mission home in Tulsa. I haven't been there since my first day in the field! It's also going to be awesome to be with all the other Zone Leaders in the mission and get to hear from them about all the areas and missionaries in their zones. 

I love the scripture that I put in the subject line. It's one of my new favorites. Believe in God. It's a choice that we make. Miracles happen all around us. God has a hand in all of our lives, we just have to acknowledge Him! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission down here in the bible belt. It's hard! But it's awesome! I believe in Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. God is merciful, kind, and just. He loves us and wants us to succeed in this life. I'm so so so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord and the people northwest Arkansas!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Sherwood

1 Nephi 20:10

1 Nephi 20:10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of ^aaffliction.

Good Morning! 

This week was awesome because of Christmas and everything that we were able to do but it was also kind of rough. The lessons in the zone were kinda down this week just because people are gone and busy with the holidays and such. But we had two baptisms! It was awesome, we are trying to make it to the temple with them soon! 

It was so good to video chat with all of you on Christmas! Glad to see not too much has changed since I've been gone :) I feel like I have changed so much but I'm still the same person. Like I'm still the same person but my goals and desires and purpose in life has changed. I finally feel like I'm beginning to understand what this life is all about. The gospel has a tendency to do that I think ;) So if anyone reading this feels lost, alone, confused, etc, the gospel of Jesus Christ is for you. Really it's for all of us. At all times. But there are people out there that are looking for something but they just don't know where to look. As a missionary I try so hard to find those people. The other night we were tracting. We tracted one side of a street. So much opposition. slammed doors, Jehovah's Witnesses, you name it. We decided that the neighborhood was a bust, so we left. But we felt a strong impression to go back. So we did. We continued tracting the other side of the street and again, more opposition. Let me tell you, there was no love for the Mormons on this street. Until we knocked on the last two doors. One of them was a family, they LOVE Jesus. It's awesome. They are non denominational. We talked with the dad for a while on the doorstep and asked if we could come back and share a message about the gospel and families. Our return appointment last night was really successful. We are going back later this week to teach them more! They are really interested in learning more. They are sincere and have a real desire to come closer to the Savior. Definitely worth the opposition. 

I have learned on my mission that usually before or after great spiritual moments comes the adversary's sad attempt to bring us down. In all of our lives, when miracles occur, Satan always gets his jabs in with something equally powerful in the opposite spiritual direction. It's more of a testimony builder for me now. To know that Satan exists and does everything he can to make us miserable. HE wants us to feel that way. I know that God lives and the he wants to bring us joy and happiness in this life. And He can, if we let him.

Anyways, the work in Springdale Har-Ber Ward is going great! I'm still loving Arkansas, loving being a zone leader and loving Elder Stapley. We work great together. I love you all so much! 

Love,

Elder Sherwood

Tulsa...

Of course he found a ballpark...

Tulsa Oil Man

John 4:14

 John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never ^athirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water ^bspringing up into ^ceverlasting life.

This week was awesome! I love Springdale Arkansas. I'm so happy to be back in Arkansas. I love this state. It's literally the best kept secret in the United States. Like who has ever even heard of Arkansas ya know?! I could definitely live here someday. Elder Stapley is the best missionary that I've ever met. He's 26 and he only has two transfers left! I love it so much. This area is doing so well right now. We have two baptisms set up for Thursday and we have a couple other people with baptismal dates. Also this week we found two families! One family of 5 with three teenage kids that really want to learn more about our message and another family of 4. They are so awesome. We met that second family last night tracting.

Being a Zone Leader is awesome. We haven't done a whole lot yet, just helping missionaries in our zone with random questions that they have or permission for stuff and collecting key indicators last night and reporting to the assistants. This is the first time basically since I was trained that I have been with a missionary that has more experience than me. It's awesome. I've learned so much already from him. Elder Stapley is so awesome. He is super knowledgeable about missionary work and he just knows how to get things done! I have been so blessed on my mission I can't believe it. I've had the best areas the best companions the best districts. I'm back in the same district with Elder Koetting haha. It's so awesome. I've seen him a lot since I've been here and it's so cool to see how much he has improved. It makes me proud to be his trainer haha :)

 We decided, because of all the stuff that happened this past week in the country, to canvas the neighborhood by the church with copies of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. The family is under attack in society today. Seriously this part of the country knows what’s up. That document is Prophetic on all accounts. 18 years ago when it was issued it was almost superfluous. But it now stands as God's standard on the family. God's standard. The same God that is referred to by our founding fathers. I would invite everyone that reads this to read that proclamation and live by it's principles. Sorry I could keep going but I'll get off my soapbox now. I hope I didn't offend anyone.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real! Jesus Christ lives. God lives. Truth is still truth whether or not you choose to believe it. But this life is our probationary state and we must figure it out. I know that he lives and that He loves us and is not waiting to punish us. He is waiting to bless us. And He does everything He can to do that. It really is up to us to apply his atonement in our lives. I love the Gospel. I love this work. It is the Lord’s work. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Sherwood

A Few Pictures...

Elder Sherwood with his companion Elder Bailey and I think Brother Johnson, they lived in his house.

 

Elder Sherwood and a new member of the church he had been teaching.

Snow in Owasso!

Elder Sherwood's district - He says he will really miss them!

1 Nephi 6: 4-5

 1 Nephi 6: 4-5  For the fulness of mine intent is that I may ^apersuade men to ^bcome unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

 5 Wherefore, the things which are ^apleasing unto the world I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the world.

Good Morning!

So Saturday night we were driving back from a lesson with a kid from the ward. He's about to leave on his mission to Kobe Japan. We are almost home and I get a call on our phone from the Assistants. On transfer call night that’s either awesome or a terrible. If you are loving your area, companion and district and you feel like you could stay in the same place the rest of your mission, it's terrible. I answered the phone and Elder Robinson told me that I am being transferred to Springdale Arkansas to be a Zone Leader for the Springdale Zone, with Elder Stapley.

I am excited to be a zone leader and to go back to Arkansas because I love it there, but I am sad to be leaving Owasso. This area has been so much fun. Of course with the Lord's blessing, my companions and I have built this area so much. The work is going so well now! I am super bummed to be leaving but I guess I'm needed elsewhere.

So the next couple of days are going to be crazy. Packing and visiting people, saying goodbye's. It will be an emotional time haha. That’s okay though, that’s just the way it goes when you are a missionary.

We started teaching XXXX his new member lessons! And his dad is joining in now and accepted a baptismal invitation last night! He said that a month ago if someone told him that he would be sitting around a kitchen table with us talking about this stuff he would have thought they were crazy! But the answers to prayers and miracles that he has seen lately have really humbled him and he is ready to listen to this message.

One thing that I have really learned on my mission is how prevalent the Lord’s hand is in our lives. How much he wants to be there with us and how often we get in the way! If we would just humble ourselves, ask, seek, and knock, he will be there to help us and guide us. Miracles still happen. We just have to open our eyes to see them. I love serving the Lord. I love being a missionary. This is the Lord's work. This is his Gospel. I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Sherwood