September 16, 2013
Dear Family
Well this week was a little bit slow, but it wasn't too bad.
Monday was good. We didn't think we were going to get to E-mail.
We were pretty busy. Elder Hawkins and I were with Elder Spencer while he
packed and Elders Cook and Haslem went to go to office to work until Elder
Cooks new comp (Elder Braithweight) got here. Like I said last week, Elder
Spencer was a cool guy, so we didn't enjoy him leaving. He wanted to
go tracting so he could say he did on his last day. I was going to go with
him. Our dinner for the night wasn't going to be able to feed us
so they asked us to come pick up some cash at their house. On our way
there we stopped at a light next to the nicest Nissan GTR I have ever seen!
The guy rolled down his window and asked if we were from the LDS church
and we talked to him for a second. His car had 900 horsepower. I am pretty
sure those cars are just twin turboed v-6's, but I could be wrong, he
didn't say. I don't know how he got that kind of horse power but it
sounded amazing. I got a short video but my battery was mostly dead so I
didn't really get more than like 2 seconds. Elder Spencer wanted that to
be his last contact, so we didn't go tracting. Once we got Elder
Braithweight in the apartment and Elder Spencer at the mission office we
got a chance to E-mail. After that we went to dinner at Chili’s cuz I
talked everybody into it. We didn't have enough money but I had a gift
card for my B-day I was going to use for me and Elder Hawkins. We had
the same waitress we had the last three times ha. Once we were
done the waitress came and let us know that somebody paid for our
dinner. We went and talked to them, they were super nice. I guess we get Chili’s
another day! Because we didn't have time earlier we went shopping even
though we were supposed to go proselyting after dinner. We had to
though. Last time we went shopping when we weren't supposed to, but under
the same circumstances we went to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately while
we were there we ran into President Smart.... It made it even worse because the
Wal-Mart was just out of our zone. But only by a street. I guess somebody got
permission a while ago because everywhere else is super expensive. On the plus
side we don't think he saw our faces, but Ii am sure he knew who it was
regardless. But this last Monday we didn't go to Wal-Mart! We went to Ralphs!
Tuesday we didn't have district meeting because all the
craziness at the office with all the new missionaries coming in. 2 flew home,
and 21 came in. 15 or 16 were all sisters. 4 or 5 are visa waiters who will
leave in a transfer or two. I talked to somebody that day that told me about a
man he knew who was studying to become a Catholic Priest. Because of his
studies he became a Mormon ha. That night we met with part of a part member
family. It was the Bishop family. The husband was the only one there and is the
only member. In the past I have met all the other family members though. He
wasn't up much for a gospel conversation. I kept trying to turn it there but with
no luck. He did show me his old 1940 German Mauser that his grandpa got at a pawn
shop in Idaho. That was cool. It is a posterity thing in their family. His son
doesn't know that he has it though haha. We had a good chat with him but that
was about it.
Wednesday we had district meeting. Other than that it was a
slow day. Elder Hawkins had an ingrown toe-nail again. We met with Bishop
Merill’s family again. We are helping them to do some more missionary work. We
ate with the Porters that night. That is also a part member family. We taught a
lesson afterwards that they all seemed to enjoy. Bro Porters wife gave him
a pretty hard time about him getting baptized. He took it well. The thing
that stuck out to me were the kids though. You could see how bad they
wanted their dad to be baptized so they could go to the temple and
get sealed. It wasn't as obvious in the little ones, but the older one
really showed it. Probably because of their understanding of the gospel. I felt
bad for her. We also found out that night that their daughter is best
friends with Stephani Smart so we gave her a hard time about not telling on us.
Also side note, Elders Cook and Braithweight didn't eat with us until Friday or
Saturday because they were so busy with the new transfer and the influx of
missionaries. That night I watched Elder Hawkins get another ingrown toe-nail
removed. Bro. Gifford said I was enjoying it way to much ha. Which I was! Just
like last time Elder Hawkins took his tie off and put it over his eyes for the
whole thing. I offered to put my tie over Bro Giffords eyes also, but Elder
Hawkins didn't really like that idea. Bro. Gifford is a really cool guy. He
went to BYU and is a foot doctor (whatever they are called) He and his wife are
probably about Ronny and Lisa's age. The kids went in the other room probably
because they were getting weirded out. I just sat there and talked to his wife.
She is from Castle Dale and grew up on a farm, so we had a good chat. Then
the Office Assistants picked us and our bikes up with the mission
Silverado and took us home.
Thursday was a really good day. Had dinner with a really
good family. They invited Steven Chavez over to eat with us so we just asked
him for a ride. He is a convert of a few years. He went on a mission but had to
come home due to some crazy girl and some other things I think. He has been
less active for a while but is missing the peace the gospel brought to his life
so he is coming back now. After dinner he came with us to a lesson at Bro.
Jones house because they are on the ward mission process. I think he enjoyed
it. After that we had another lesson with the Vance family, we are just helping
them to do missionary work as well.
Friday we saw Sandy again. She has been doing better with
her health problems. She really enjoys us, and knows we were sent by God. She
is still having a hard time letting us teach her though. We have a really good
fellowshipper for her so we are just going to help her as much as we can and
hope for the best. We met with the Poor family and they gave us a really good referral.
It is for the other Elders area though, but that is ok. Their son is leaving
for his mission to Denver soon so we answered a lot of questions for them.
Dinner was with the Trans, another part member family, but her husband at the
last minute had to work so he couldn't be there.
Saturday was super slow. I wanted to get a lot done, but I
didn't get a lot of cooperation. Elder Hawkins was starting to get sick plus he
is still using his toe as an excuse ha. This time Bro. Gifford used acid to
kill the root, so the healing is taking longer. We had an awesome dinner with
Sister Hampton though!
Sunday was good. A lot of people were sick. Bro. Jones our
(ward mission leader) had us go to ward council because he was sick. Elder Cook
and I went because Hawkins was sick plus it gave us a representative from each
area. This ward was very impressive and really organized. They began with a
kneeling prayer which caught me off guard, but I liked it. After that Elder
Cook stayed home and I took Elder Braightwieght to church. That night Elder
Cook and I went to a lesson Elder Hawkins and I set up before he got sick. It
was with Marcia Kemp. She is a recent convert who was only active for a
short time. We set the lesson up to have at Bro. Jones house. That was one
of the best lessons I have been in. By far the best lesson I have been involved
with in a long time. We didn't really go in with much of a plan, I just told
him we were teaching the first lesson. The spirit was really strong! We both
were being edified as much as everybody else. Marcia had some really good
questions that I loved answering. We walked out of that lesson on top
of the world. We walked home after that and had a really good talk. Everybody
in that house had a really good experience that night. After talking for a bit
with Elder Cook we found out that that lesson was something we both needed.
Well I’ve got to go, I am over time. Talk to you later! Love
ya!!! Elder Wood
