Tuesday October 12
Today was a good Tuesday. We went and saw a wonderful old guy that we really like. He's really funny too! I love going to see him. We also taught two families, so it was a really good day. The struggles are many and patience is tested and retested but I'm hanging in. I'm headed to bed. Anyone who is reading this good night and sweet dreams.

Wednesday October 13
District Meetings.
On the way to meetings we saw an ariel atom (car)! It was so cool! Seeing one in real life makes me want one!

Thursday October 14
All our appointments cancelled and no one was home. It makes for a long day.

Friday October 15
Exchanges!
I was on exchanges with Elder Hunter. He is an awesome elder. We taught one lesson.

Saturday October 16
Service all day! I really like service. It gives me a chance to reset. So, we put in a fence and shoveled bark and then we fixed a winch.
I love you all and I thank you for your prayers.

Sunday October 17
Stake Conference. It was great! I really enjoyed all the talks. We ate taco salad at a members home.

Monday October 18
P-day. So today we shopped for two weeks of food. Next week we are taking our cultural day to see the sites of Seattle. Our new mission president is going to be stopping these cultural days so we need to go if we are going to do it.

We had two lessons today. One was a member dinner and the other was with another member family.

I got Lauren's picture! WOW! She looks great! Hope all is well at home.

Tuesday October 19
Well, today was an interesting day. We tracted from 10-2 and then at about 2:30 we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Smith in his area. With Elder Smith we taught two lessons. The first one was with two new investigators. We were able to set up the return appointment but the Spirit must have helped set that one up because it wasn't because of our message.

The cool part of the exchange is that the elders in this area live with the CEO of T-Mobile so I sleep in their home tonight. Cool beans! :-)

Wednesday October 20
Well today was fun:-) I'm back in my area. We carved pumpkins with the Conrad family. We had a dinner appointment that forgot about us but they were kind enough to still feed us tuna fish sandwiches and then our night got crazy!

So, we get a call from the church saying someone needs a blessing. So we go to the church. After searching out who needs the blessings we find ourselves in an empty building with someone who is clearly crazy. After two hours of conversation with him and silent prayers on what to do we end up giving him a short blessing.

I know prayers are answered. I'm thankful we are safe. Good night everyone. CRAZY!

Thursday October 21
Companion is sick today. Home today studying.

Friday October 22
Zone Conference

Elder Ringwood came from the Quorum of the Seventy. I thought we were going to get yelled at but we didn't. I got to become part of the lesson though. Intense!

He was asking us about what makes a good missionary. I said that a good missionary is himself and is genuine and real. I thought I said something wrong because he just stared at me. He then asked if I was true to myself. I thought I was in trouble but I said yes. He stared at me longer and asked me if there was a problem with other missionaries. Now I really thought I had done it, but I said yes. He stared at me again! and then said I agree! and then went off for thirty minutes on how we need to be true to ourselves and how there is no missionary mold. He told us not to be robots or to do fake blinks (he gave an example). He then asked my first name. I told him. He continued to teach how the Lord didn't call ELDER Woodruff to Seattle but he called Elder STERLING Woodruff on a mission to Seattle. It was really cool.

Well, that's the highlight of my day. Good night!

Saturday and Sunday October 23-24

Been super tired. I fell asleep during sacrament and gospel doctrine class. We've taught two lessons. Extremely tired!

Monday October 25
Cultural Day in Seattle

We went with Brother Wargo. It was a fun day! We saw a lot of the city. We did Pikes Place and stuff.

Tuesday October 26
Haircuts! I finally got my haircut today. It was getting a little long but I'm looking good again!
One lesson with the Howard Family. After that it was difficult to find anyone who would let us in.

Wednesday October 27
One lesson today.

Friday October 1, 2010
Got out of the car and walked today. It was a beautiful day. Steak for dinner. :-) It was really good. That was it. That was our day.

Saturday and Sunday, General Conference
I loved Elder Holland's talk on thanks and felt like he said everything I wanted to say to you and dad. Thank you so much. This was my first Priesthood session without dad. Kinda sad, but you'd have been proud when all the missionaries were asked to stand I was standing. I'm so glad I'm here.

After Sunday's session of conference we went to the Sundwalls home and they know Uncle Dan. I guess Dan told them to tell me hi. That was really cool!

Monday October 4
Found out that P-day activities have now been banned in our mission. We can no longer play any sport as a zone or district. I'm disappointed but I understand. Last week 3 elders were seriously injured and one even was sent home for surgery. So today my companion and I went shopping. I bought a thermal shirt for service. We taught a lesson to Luke about prophets.
Went to a ward members home who just purchased a new camaro. It was a beautiful car. He gave us a ride and even offered for me to drive it. I declined. It's against mission rules.

Tuesday, Wednesday
Nothing out of the ordinary. We taught two lessons one on gossip and another on accountability. Both turned out well. I got no mail so I re-read Brittany's letter. lol

Thursday October 7
Interviews with Mission President!
Taught Luke another lesson and he set a baptism date for Dec 2. I was so happy to hear that. It's amazing to hear someone say they want to be baptized.
I got a letter today! It was from Allie Parr. What a fun surprise.

Friday October 8
Went tracting today in Fall City.
Got your letter today!
Our lessons all canceled and no one was home.
We are going on exchanges tonight with the zone leader. I really like the zone leaders. I'll be with Elder Price.

Saturday October 9
I'm with Elder Price and we started by tracting. We had two people tell us we weren't Christians and that we were going to hell. We politely said we believed in Christ and left them our card. The rest of the day was service. We worked at Brother Marques doing odd jobs. While we were working he invited friends over to help with the work and we taught them little mini lessons while we worked.

Sunday October 10
I'm so tired! I'm just exhausted!
Church was nice. Luke came to church. We ate dinner at a members home and then went out tracting. I;m really tired and ready for bed.

Monday October 11
I found a copy of the newspaper clipping and I'm sending it home. Today's P-Day and nothing is really happening.

Tuesday September 28
This morning is a lesson with our only investigator. His name is Luke and he's 19, dating a a girl in the ward. After the lesson we went tracting. We mowed Allie's yard and she cuts our hair and fed us fried chicken. It was much appreciated. We then went to the Howards. Brother Howard is a professional drummer so he played for us inside his studio. It was really cool! We ate dinner at a members home.

Wednesday September 29
We met with Luke again today and will meet with him again tomorrow. We had a district meeting and went on half day exchanges. I went with Elder Leffler who is a great elder! We went tracting and then off to a lesson with the Hoffmans. Brother Hoffman is a really neat guy. He knows a lot about the church and scriptures. I always get taught by him instead of me teaching him. I like him al ot. Something he said was a new thought for me. Instead of praying and asking for something, pray and give thanks for what you desire and don't have yet.

Thursday September 30
Well I'm famous! and so is my companion. We made it into the local newspaper working at the wards food drive. So fun!
Met with Luke and talked about temples and watched a video on temples.
No mail this week. :-( Kind of sad.
Maybe tomorrow :-).

Tuesday September 21
So today was P-day and probrably the most relaxing one I've had. I was able to do my shopping and then kicked back and relaxed. P-day is normally the busiest day but it wasn't today.

Wednesday September 22
Zone meeting. Long day......

Thursday September 23
So, today was ward correlation. That's when we meet with the ward mission leader and today we were brainstorming with all the ward missionaries on how to serve the people better and expand our missionary work. I had been thinking about this a lot because we've been getting nowhere with what we've been doing.
I put out the idea of tracting in service clothes and offering service to people on Saturdays. My companion doesn't like physical labor so he shot it down. Brother Shaw sent an email to our Mission President while sitting there and asked for approval. President Larkin emailed right back and gave it an okay! I sure hope it's a good idea.

Friday September 24
A really good day. We lined up some service for tomorrow, at 12 we are unloading hay into a barn and then at 4 we are cleaning up a single sisters yard with the Ward Mission Leader..

Saturday September 25
Great Day!!! So we went and filled the barn with hay, which I found I'm allergic to hay on my arms. Then I put together a shelf unit for a sister who needed help. We helped Brother Marques with post hole digging to fix a fence and sanded his trailer, cut off some old rusted bolts and at least got the job started for him. It sure makes me think of working with dad on projects. It was a great day!
We did 8 hours of non-stop service.

Sunday September 26
Fast Sunday. I've come to love fasting. This companionship has really been a growing experience for me. I think the Lord wants to see if I can do it.

Monday September 27
Played frugbee with the zone. Elder Smith broke his hand, he's the zone leader. He was falling and put down his hand to catch himself and I guess he popped some bone.

September 13, Monday
P-DAY! No zone activity because our zone leaders took their culture day. Culture Day - a one day thing, you get to go visit the sites of Washington. I haven't taken my culture day yet. So today we played football as a district. My team got killed but it's a;; good because it was fun.
I do have to say that my companion rigged the whole game. He made himself a team captain and then he made me a team captain. He then picked his whole team and left me with every guy that has never played football. LOL We had a ton of fun and we scored a couple of touch downs. :-) Goodnight!

September 14, 2010 Tuesday
On exchanges on Mercer Island. I'm with Elder Dennison until 2pm tomorrow. We get along really well and I enjoy working on Mercer. Lots of Maserati and ferries out here.

September 15, 2010 Wednesday
Midweek! Woohoo! I only spent about 5 hours with my companion, Elder Endicott. I'm now on another exchange with Elder Price, staying in my own area. I really like exchanges. They're a nice change from the stresses of my companion.Worked hard and I'm tired.

September 16, 2010 Thursday
On another exchange with Elder Price. I learned a lot from him while tracting. I'm praying for transfers. I taught three lessons today. I'm doing my push ups and sit ups every morning and night.

September 17, 2010 Friday
I got your letter and was really excited! It sounds like the family had a fun trip to Oregon. I love letters!

Saturday 18, 2010
Taught five lessons and got two new investigators! It was such a good day. Two corn dogs for comfort food. lol

Sunday 19, 2010
Neither I nor my companion are being transferred. I just wanted to cry. This has been a difficult time but there must be something for me still to learn.

Monday September 20, 2010
It's 2 pm and we just got back from a General Authority devotional, Elder Kakoochi, from the Quorum of the 70. He came and talked about baptizing more and believing more in the power of God. He also taught us how to teach better.
I got my warm clothes and blankets from you. Thank you. I've been cold.
All my love.

Quilt Made It Just In Time

Monday September 13, 2010

Thank you for sending my blanket. It's getting really cold here.

If you could send me another sweatshirt and those winter leggings you bought me for the last winter camp out. I'm cold!

So we're teaching two people. One is a 19 year old guy who is investigating because of a girl. Which isn't bad but you can tell he's not fully into the whole thing. He is still progressing. Another man we're teaching is from a part member family. It really makes me think of how we have to put the Lord first and what we want second. If the gospel is true it's true and everything else in the world comes after the Savior and what he has asked us to do.

MISSIONARY SIGHTING!!

September 2010

Elder Woodruff with companions in the Distribution Center.

September 1, 2010 Not Too Bad of A Day

I sent off a couple of letters this morning. Hmmm. District meeting was today so we didn't tract very long. In the afternoon, Elder Endicott needed to take another Elder to the doctor so Elder Martin and I were companions. We played a game left in the apartment during break and had a good time. After break we started out to go tracting and saw a sister in the ward mowing her lawn. So we mowed her lawn for her and put out some mulch for her. Soon my companion joined us and lended a hand with all the mulch. It was a good service for a sister who needed the help. Love to serve others!

Beat Elder Endicott at Mancala three times tonight. Than you Lauren for whoeing me how to be good at that game. :-)

Friday September 3, 2010

Again, not so bad of a day. I got a couple of letters in the mail. Love those! One was from the Phillips Family and one from Brittany. Letters really help me along so thank you very much!

We are going on exchanges tonight. I will be with Elder Twingstom who is a really good missionary and I really enjoy him at P-Day activities. Well, I'm off to bed. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Saturday September 4, 2010

The exchange was great! I loved ever minute of it. We didn't teach any lessons so we did tracting most of the day. Tracting takes a long time and gets really old, really fast so we started joking and stuff between doors.

Sunday September 5, 2010

Today was not a good day. Struggling with my companion. I nad to sing hymns and fun songs to make it through the day. I don't understand individuals who rejoice in being "not nice". Anyway, you'd be proud of me mom. I kept my cool.

Tuesday September 7, 2010

Had exchanges on Mercer Island. Love the exchanges!

Wednesday September 8, 2010

Still no sighting of bears. There are lots of detroyed garbage cans though. I heard a little dog got out and was eaten by a bear. Poor little dog. :-( I wish I could have been there to save the little guy. It could have been my chance to fight a bear! LOL


Friday September 10, 2010

Great Day! Exchanges are always great! We worked hard all day. Didn't teach any lessons which was tough but did do service. We helped a brother on his property do some work. He had a wire fence that had grown into some trees, so we chopped it out. Know there is a gospel lessons in the wire in the trees, I'll have to expound on it later.

Saturday September 11, 2010

National Day of Service so we did service. We helped with the ward food drive until around 1:30 and then tracted after.We taught one lesson with a less active family. They gave us dinner. I really miss your cooking mom. You are a good cook. I love you all. Good night. :-)

Sunday September 12

I Got your package!

I love it! The zone leaders brought it to church with them. I'm writing with one of my new pens. Thank you for the little airplanes and silly putty. I also like the Elder Woodruff action figure. I loved it all!! The music is great too! I can't wait to listen to it all. My CD player is acting up. I'm looking for another one but I'm having diffculty finding one.

Thank you a million times! Transfers are coming up next week. Pray for me to have a change...if it's the Lord's will.

The Temple and Exchanges - Great Days!

Monday 8/23

P-day! Had a fun day playing frugbee which may be banned here soon, too many missionaries have been hurt I guess. :-/ We went shopping and bought some corn dogs for the next week. That's about it. Oh, and one lesson! Good night.

Tuesday 8/24

Great day! All the district leaders and zone leaders have leadership training, so I get to go on exchanges. I love exchanges. Today we got two lessons! While tracting we found two potential investigators on a street that is listed in our records as a really tough street. Great! :-)

Wednesday 8/25

Leadership training is still happening so I'm in another area today. No new lessons but we did teach three lessons in their area with investigators they already had.

Thursday 8/26

Another day in a different area. I normally dislike going on exchanges but I've really enjoyed these. I'm still learning patience. Still pushing forward.

Friday 8/27

Two exchanges in one day! It's the last day of leadership training. I spent the majority of the day in Elder Simons area. Then we went and picked up our companions. We had a 24 hour exchange with two other elders. I stayed in my area and Elder Endicott went to Mercer Island.

Great day of work!

Saturday 8/28

Today's exchanges were a blast! I love Elder Denison! He is a really cool, nice guy and we got along really well.

Sunday 8/29

Today was a really fun day at church. I did fall asleep in sacrament which was well needed but not the best timing. We got to teach Sharing Time in Primary! What a blast! Elder Endicott didn't relate well with the kids so it was my moment to shine. I taught the restoration and how they can invite their friends to church, scouts and activity day. Then they let the kids ask us any questions they wanted about missionary work. They had a lot of good questions. And then there were some like, "Have you ever used a porta potty while tracting?" It was a ton of fun and I loved every minute of it!

We also had a dinner appointment at a members home where I was able to teach more! Greatest joy! I'm happy!

Monday 8/30

Today is normally P-day but instead it's going to be Tuesday. We get to go to the temple!

Nothing really happened today and I'm super tired so I'm just going to head to bed. We did have one lesson with the Sundwalls who know Uncle Dan and Aunt Marie. Well, that's all folks. I'm off to bed.

Tuesday 8/31

Today was a long and exciting day! Tell you tomorrow. Good night.

Wednesday 9/1

It's September! well it is almost 9 am and I'm trying to write this letter before I have to start getting ready.

Yesterday was fantastic! We got to go to the temple! I have wanted to go to the temple so badly and being able to was great! I really miss the Los Angeles Temple though. The Seattle Temple is nice but the LA temple is kinda "my" temple. I really like how the LA temple is so beautiful inside. I also miss going there with you dad and Tito's Tacos afterwards. :-)

Right: Los Angeles California Temple

Left: Seattle Washington Temple

I feel bad I wasn't able to write dad a longer email yesterday. I was trying to respond to Lauren's email and read our mission news letter and write my mission president an email and write back to your emails. It was just all really stressful!

I really miss my family and wish I had spent more time at home and doing things as a family. I'm so sorry that I put other things as a priority.

The leaves are beginning to change colors here and the rain has arrived. It's going to be a cold day today. I think it's suppose to be in the high 50's, low 60's. We have our heater on today too. Which reminds me...can you send up the blanket and stuff I left behind? It's really getting cold at night.

Love and miss you guys so much. I know the Lord has something great for us around the corner. Have a good week everyone.

P.S. stamps are running low :-)

Love, Elder Sterling Woodruff

Challenging Week

Monday 8/16
P-day! Played basketball, went shopping and took a needed nap. Taught one lesson!

Tuesday 8/17
Good day! We set out with a new goal in mind and got two lessons! Helped someone move.
I think I'm growing...my ankles and legs hurt really bad at night.

Wednesday 8/18
Today we taught three lessons and one new investigator. Patience...patience is a virtue.

Thursday 8/19
Taught one lesson today! YEAH!!

Friday 8/20
Found a new investigator today and I can't wait for exchanges. Sooo happy!

Saturday 8/21
On exchanges today.

Sunday 8/22
Spoke today at church. Super nervous! I guess it was good or everyone was just being nice.
Struggling with an argumentative companion. Sorry for all the dumb arguments I ever had with anyone over very unimportant things. My eyes have really been opened to the "argumentative spirit". Not a good thing on a mission. It takes too much time away from the work.

Being spiritually challenged is much harder than being physically challenged. I've really been pushed this week. I love the work! When you see the gospel moving in someones life it is so exciting!

I'M IN SNOQUALMIE!

Tuesday, Aug 10
Well, I'm in my new area! =) I'm in a car again. :) Snoqualmie is in the southern area of Bellevue. It's a pretty small town that is full of new developments. It's all been tracted many many times. My new companion is Elder Endicott. He's from Maryland. He's a really nice guy and I think we will get along.

I got you guys package today =) I loved it all! Lauren's scroll is hanging on the wall and so is Brittany's Mickey :) Thank you for the gliders and the Target cards. The gliders were a great ice breaker for me and my companion. Oh, and thanks for the picture of Christ, Lauren. I'm off to bed.

Wednesday, Aug 11
First full day in the new area! Boy oh boy it's going to be a hard area. Very much an upper class area, the people are not interested and the majority already know us. I guess there hasn't been a baptism in the area in two years. The members are young families. We only taught two lessons yesterday. Last week they only taught three lessons for the whole week! I'm just trying to show how hard the area is. I can do it though :)! Bring it on!
I still love my pictures and letters. They are hanging on my wall. Off to bed.

Thursday, Aug 12
Now that I'm not on a bike I'm working out more but the work is still slow. Zero lessons today. It was a long hot day. We are still trying to find different ways to introduce people to the gospel here. Well, I'm tired.

Friday, Aug 13
Zippo-itto lessons! :( I'm trying and praying but feel so useless. I'm definitely up against a spiritual challenge here. BRING IT ON!!!! Good night everyone.

Saturday, Aug 14
One Lesson! 1! YEAH!! Got 1!
It was a member lesson but it's still a lesson. ;)
Still pushing onward. Hurrah for Israel! Good night.

Sunday, Aug 15
Went to church. It's a really young ward. Had dinner at a members home. Tried to visit a few other ward families. One lesson.