April 7, 2014
Dear Family:
Well this week was pretty crazy and I don't have long to
write about it. Elder Ringwood and I are still here. There have been a lot of
people get transferred though so I will be helping them for a good part of the
day.
Monday was a normal P-day. Our homeshare took us to Costco
so I could spend all my money. I am set for like a while though on food. That
night we picked up a new investigator. Denise Hanks. We taught her the
restoration and she took it well. We didn't get to meet with her later in the
week because her husband is a cop and there was a shootout just before the
lesson so she didn't want to meet.
Tuesday we had DLC and got the zone focus planned out with
the district leaders. This week was really slow for lessons, it was hard to
meet with them this week for some reason. We met with Mario. His girl friend
(Lakisha) isn't a member and neither is her son. We didn't get to meet with
her, but we talked with Mario for quite a while. They just had a son together
and he wants to raise him in the church so he wants to come back, he just feels
a little bit overwhelmed by it right now I think.
Wednesday I was on exchanges with Brother Platt. He is a
mini missionary and has been here this whole transfer. Elder Ringwood went with
his companion into the other area. His first name is Trevor. Trevor is a really
cool kid. He has only been a member for about 6 months. He is from Hemet.
Tuesday night we stayed up pretty late because he was teaching me about Masons.
He is a Mason and is pretty into it. I remember Dad and I having some good
conversations about Masons so I just asked him about a ton of stuff. I still
don't completely understand it, but it was really cool. We taught Ron and
Karen. Karen is super funny. She has a little bit of attitude. She didn't like
how in 3rd Nephi when Christ is giving a similar sermon as to the sermon on the
mount and He says to pray in the closet. She likes walking around talking to
God all day, while she is cleaning and everything. So we talked about that for
a while. Then she told me I was a liar! At the very end Christ says "be ye
perfect as I and my father are perfect" (which interestingly enough is a
little different than what he says in Matthew) I had told her she didn't have
to be perfect. She was mostly messing with me but she did question it so we had
to explain it haha. That was Trevor's last day as a mini missionary. He went
home that night back to Hemet. He was ready to be done, he was tired of his
companion and he had been here for 5 weeks living mission rules. That night I
was super tired. I was laying on the floor in my missionary clothes with my
head on the green little football I got for Christmas and I think I fell
asleep. I made calls to the district leaders that night, but that is the last
thing I remember haha. Somehow I made it to my bed, still with my church
clothes on (I sleep on top bunk) because that is how I woke up the next
morning.
Thursday we went to the mission office in Riverside for MLC
(missionary leadership council). We set a mission goal for 92 baptisms this
month. If we do that for the next three months until President Smart leaves we
will reach our goal of 500 hundred before he goes. As far as teaching goes it
was a really slow day. Nobody was around and we didn't get back to Elsinore
until after 3 I think. We saw Michelle. We are still trying to teach her mom
but no luck yet.
Friday we had ZDM (Zone Meeting). We had a good meeting. We
took a 5 minute break in the middle. When we did one of the Spanish Sister Companionships
brought in brownies! We were like this is too good to be true! This never
happens!! What we later found out was it was too good to be true!! After the
meeting we took some Elders back to their area on the other side of the lake.
When we were about 2 minutes away from home we got a call from the Elders we
dropped off freaking out. Elder Thurman went to the bathroom and was really
worried because his pee was green. He called a nurse in his ward and she said
he had a kidney infection. He was about to get us on the phone to take him to
the doctor when his comp went and his was green too!! So they called us and
told us to go!! Elder Ringwood only ate a small piece of brownie but I ate 3 or
4 of them. My pee was pretty green haha. It is just wearing off now. Anyways we
got a call from some sisters and they got them too. So the whole zone was
peeing green until about yesterday. They put barium sulfate in them. I guess it
is the stuff they give you before a cat scan. A lot of the Elders wanted to get
them back, but worse. We talked them out of it though, they were going to take
it too far. We had a good teaching day that day. We saw Ron and Karen again.
She has some concern that she won't tell us what it is. She said she might tell
us after she gets baptized. I just hope it doesn't hold her back from getting
baptized! They say they know the Word of Wisdom is from God, but I can tell it
is going to be a struggle already. I think the hardest part is going to be
getting them to take that first step.
Saturday was general conference!! It was awesome!! Elder
Holland started us off right, I really liked his talk. He actually quoted one
of my favorite scriptures (Helaman 5:12). He didn't really state that he was using
that scripture though. That is something that I noticed the Apostles do a lot
that I really liked. They quote a lot of scripture without a reference or
saying anything. Sometimes it is only 4 to 8 words of a scripture sometimes
more. I wish now I had made a better note of it. The scriptures were definitely
there though. Another Apostle also used words from that specific scripture.
Neil L. Anderson and that was even in the same session. It happened many times
with other scriptures. As I go back
through them, and next conference I am going to do better at keeping track of
that. Priesthood session was by far my favorite. Once again it started off
strong and kept up! In Priesthood all but Elder Oaks and the Prophet gave us a
list of 3 or 4 things to focus on. That night for dinner we went with the
Wildomar Elders to eat at one of Elder Ringwood's converts houses. He started
his mission there. We got transfer calls that night. They changed up a lot of
stuff. Elder Cook who I lived with is coming to be a district leader here in
this zone. I am excited for that. Elder Therman is leaving. I am bummed about
that, he is cool. He is going to be a zone leader with Elder Reed in Corona. I
called Elder Feist that night. I found out he got called to be a zone leader
too!! I was excited about that. He is going to Mt. Rubido with Elder Jenkins.
He is one I lived with in Corona.
Sunday was conference again. We just watch all the sessions
at the church. In between the two on Sunday they fed all the missionaries
lunch. Sunday we tried to get 11 lessons to catch up with were we wanted to be.
We only got 5. Well that is all that I have for now exciting in some ways very
boring in others ha. We would have looked to have taught a lot more people.
Well have to go! Have a good week! bye!!
Elder Wood
Elder Wood
