November 4, 2013
Dear Family:
Today at 2:53 PM
Hey! Well this
week has been good. Time is going by really fast. long days, short weeks. I
forgot to tell you a story last week that happened Saturday night at dinner.
When we pulled into the place I was a little worried because it was a sketchy
trailer park ha. Turns out the guy used to be a chef of sorts and his food was
bomb. We ate outside at his neighbors trailer. His neighbor is a non member.
When I walked over there he was outside playing a really nice 12 string. We
started talking about it and he wanted me to play it. It sounded super pretty
but I wasn't used to playing it, so it was hard at first. Before the dinner
though he snuck away and grabbed a regular guitar and wanted me to play and
sing before Elder Hammond read some scriptures. it was fun but kinda weird.
Anyways!!
Monday was fun.
Elder Feist and I went with our comps to a members house in his ward that had a
cool backyard. He had a batting cage cuz he used to play AAA ball. Then a nice
basketball court and stuff and two younger kids we hung out with. That was
after P-day activity and E-mailing and shopping and stuff.
Tuesday I got
to go back to Riverside! I went with all the other DL's for a meeting with
President. I got to drive. I loving driving. I learned some cool stuff, talked
about some of the problems going on in the mission I didn't really want to know
about, and we ate lunch all together. All the ZL's were there for lunch as well
because they were meeting that day. I got to see a lot of old friends who are
scattered all over the mission so that was really fun. Elder Hammond had a
rough day while I was gone though. I left for my meeting at like 11 and didn't
get back until right in time for dinner. He was with some other Elders and they
were all confused and scatter brained. He didn't really know what was going on
all day because they kept changing it on him. After dinner we tried to run down
a kid we are trying to teach and his parents at a scout meeting. I didn't work,
but I ran into Chase Dworshak the mini missionary Elder Feist and I had back in
Hemet. That was super fun, we are all going to go to lunch one of these days or
something. It was weird his hair was grown out and he didn't look the same.
Wednesday was a
good solid day of missionary work. For dinner we went to the ward trunk or treat.
The ward did awesome at inviting non members. I wish I knew more of the member
better so I would have known better who was and who wasn't a member. I just
ended up talking to a lot of people.
Thursday was
hard to get anything done. We had zone meeting that morning, so that pretty
much shot most of the day and then we had to be at the zone activity by 6:00 so
we didn't have a lot of time. We just all met together and played basketball
for Halloween. I am getting tired of playing basketball so Elder Feist and I
took our guitars and played for a while. We did the same thing for today for P-day
activity.
Friday we got
lots done. I was getting a little frustrated with the temperature. It was low
to mid 90s all day... I don't like that. E. Hammond loves it, he is actually a
little cold here. We had dinner with a family in the sisters area (I think I
told you I was in a split ward with sister missionaries covering the north
half?). We ate in their area so we could meet two guys that live out there. It
is way away from everybody else. It is out by Lake Mathews. We had to have the
members we are eating with give us a ride. We were really close to back in
Riverside. My new ward is huge. Our ward is as big as the rest of the stake.
Where I drive everyday to my area is almost into Lake Elsinore.
Saturday we
went way over miles. We live 7 miles out of our area. I get on the 15 everyday
just to get to my area, but all our work is like 15 miles away. So by the time
we get there our miles are pretty well shot. It has been a problem, but we
needed to get stuff done so I just ignored it. I called the office about it. It
is a good thing I made friends with Elder Price. I talked him into giving me
more miles! Saturday wasn't very fun for me. If I wasn't with a new missionary
I would have stayed at the apartment. I was pretty sick. I was dragging myself
around all day, but I got it done. I dunno why but the two colds I have had on
my mission are the worst I have had in my life. The first one was in Hemet I
doubt I told you about it, I was still with Elder Allen and getting trained. I
didn't have any tissues so I hucked a lot of lugies (sorry I know that is
really gross) until my throat was raw. Then I just gave in and went to
the store and bought a bunch of stuff like tissues and strong cough drops. That
helped a lot, it got me through the next two days with some help with all the
medicine mom sent me out with. When I was in the store I wanted to steal some
toilet paper from the bathroom, but some guy was in there for like 10 minutes
washing his hands and playing with the air dryer (they were one person
bathrooms). I had to pee pretty bad too. I ended up just going in the girls cuz
I was sick of waiting. Luckily I didn't get caught, but hey that is almost
legal here now in California! That day I was looking forward to dinner, but it
ended up being super weird and awkward.. So that didn't help much. After that
the night got better, we had a good lesson with Marcia. After that the zone got
together to start our zone fast. We have never done that before but I thought
it was a really good idea.
Sunday was
good, I was still sick though. It was weird my ears would pop cuz all the stuff
in my head, so sometimes it was like I was walking around with my fingers in my
ears. I felt a little better after church. We had two good lessons that day, so
we stayed really busy.
Today has been
good. I learned a song from Elder Feist. I am feeling a lot better. I am on the
up-hill! Just a cough now and still some congestion. I hope I didn't make it
sound like I had a terrible week, it really was a good week. I enjoyed it. I
mostly put all that in here because I didn't want to forget about it later. I
haven't been doing a very good job of writing in my journal.
Well out of time! Love ya! Elder Wood
