June 9, 2014
Dear Family:
Monday was a normal P-day. At night we went to Pat and
Michelle's house. A guy there who's name is Wayne was there. He comes and helps
them fix stuff around the house. I had met him before. We taught him and put
him on date. He told us in the past he has asked missionaries he has randomly
saw to pray that he would find a nice brunette. We taught him out of the
pamphlet to help him understand better. We asked him as we about to leave to
give the closing prayer and he didn't want to. One of the ways it is easy to
get people to pray who are uncomfortable is using the last page in the
pamphlet. When he opened to that page he busted up laughing cuz the picture was
of a brunette and he thought it was a sign. If it was to him that is great. I guess ha. He lives in the Ortega ward so we
passed him over to them. He was super excited. Michelle was a big help in the
lesson. After we left she taught the Word of Wisdom and he really wants to fix
things in his life so that was cool to hear.
Tuesday morning we had exchanges with the AP's. They came to
our DLC and DDM to see how the district leaders are doing. I went into their
area in Jurupa. A little back story. There is a place over in the Ortega ward
called Wayne's World or Wayne's Wood or something like that. I have heard about
it tons of times from lots of people the whole 4 months I have been here. It is
a huge homeless community and the leader of them all's name is Wayne. Turns out
when we told the Ortega missionaries about it that it is the Wayne we put on
date, so we all thought that was pretty cool. When I was in Jurupa it was a
really slow day. I was with Elder Figuroa (the one from El Paso) and Elder
Moss. Elder Hugie was with Elder Maxfield. We have 3 AP's right now to help
with the mission president change. At dinner we went to a ladie's house named
Amanda Archuletta. Her husband isn't a member. They were super cool they had a
big back yard with tether-ball and fun stuff like that we messed around on
while he grilled. He made bacon wrapped hot dogs (which I just found out a few
days before and was looking for someone to ask to cook it for me so I didn't
even have to). I told Amanda where I was from and she about dropped her plate
ha. She is from Duchesne. Her last name used to be Jensen. She asked if I knew
Dina Farnsworth. She called her mom and I told her I was half Goodrich so she
asked about Bruce and Betty and said she knew Mary Ann. Other than that the day
was pretty uneventful. It was fun being in a trio. I could see how it could be
a bad thing though. It is a lot easier to waste time and just mess around and
joke with each other.
Wednesday in the morning we exchanged back. We had a pretty
slow day that day as well. We found a new investigator. Janelle Micini. She is
the coupon one who gave us a ton of stuff last Sunday. She has been taught
before, but I feel like with her kids being older and supporting her and able
to answer questions and stuff she could get baptized. I got a call that night I
was super excited about. I don't know if i told you but when I went on
exchanges into Temescal Canyon Elder's area we taught a guy named Bro. Scott.
He has been going to church forever and has been taught by tons of
missionaries. The missionaries told me he was getting baptized on the 21st
which is a huge miracle! I asked them what happened and they told me it was me!
When I was there I talked to his wife about her conversion story and then asked
him. I was just trying to get him to bear his testimony about something. I said
something to the effect of just telling me about him knowing that Jesus Christ is
his Savior. So he didn't even have to talk about the church. My plan was to
listen careful and find something he said that let me knew he knew this was God's
church and I just wasn't going to let it go. What happened instead disappointed
me at the time. He was very standoffish about it and totally rejected me. I
guess it got him thinking though. There was a huge announcement to the whole
ward sent out mid day Wednesday to his ward and our ward (they used to be
combined) and he wants everybody there. They have already bought plane tickets
and everything for people to come down. Elders Montigue and Delvechio called
right at the end of the day so that made me feel a lot better about how slow
our day had been!
Elder Hugie with his new pet
I don't know if I told you E. Hugie grew up on a ranch. so he likes stuff like this too. We went to a dairy today to buy milk called DeJongs. They have the best milk ever. You can freaze it and it will turn to icecream. So he wanted his picture with a pig cuz you can't get by the cows and you never see stuff like this in California.
Thursday we were supposed to have Michael's baptismal
interview but he was in the hospital all week. He was having pancreas problems.
I don't know if I have talked about this much but he is 23 and has major health
problems. He wasn't expected to live past 18. I think his biggest one is kidney
failure so he is going to be on dialysis soon. If it wasn't for that we would
have baptized him this weekend. We only have two problems to overcome first.
The first one we will probably just leave for now and hope for the best cuz it
is like pulling teeth to overcome these things with him. He just gave up and
quit everything in the Word of Wisdom (excepts one that we knew about) and law
of chastity but had the hardest time knowing if Joseph Smith was a prophet or
not. What he says about Thomas Monson is that he believes he is the only man
who can recognize who the next prophet will be who will tell us all when Jesus
Christ will come. So we dig at it more and he says that the things he teaches
are true, and he is here to prepare us for the 2nd coming (just like all the
prophets). While he continues he describes a prophet's profile and
responsibilities so I am going to call it close enough ha. The other thing we
need to overcome is he smokes weed. If he does it completely legal (nobody
actually does) meaning he has a card, goes to dispensaries and only uses as
much as he is told he is still worthy to be baptized. I would rather just have
him quit but he won't and bishop and President Smart both approved it if he
does it all the way legit. I thought we were going to have to go around asking
members for money to buy the 60 dollar card but bishop told us he will take
care of it. I really didn't want to ask members cuz we would have to tell them
what it was for and they either wouldn't donate (I don't blame them I wouldn't
either) or they would but not want to. Either way that would be a really fast
way to give them a bad perception of Michael. It has already been challenging
to find him a fellow shipper other than Claudia ha. Bishop is a little hesitant
to let us baptize him but he will let us. He told us I am trusting you guys.
Remember I have to deal with this guy for 4 more years, you guys get
transferred out. I have been telling a lot of people this in this ward and I
told it to Bishop. Missionaries are always going to baptize. You can either let
us teach your friends and we can have cool people in the ward, or you can leave
the finding to us and we will continue to baptize the crazies we meet cuz they
are the only ones who will listen! It makes them think a little ha. Elder Hugie
and I have been praying for normal people. It is amazing how different it is
when members invite people to do things. I know missionaries who have been
tracting and gotten yelled at and doors slammed and baptized those same people
that freaked out later when a member invited them.
Friday we ran to Riverside to the mission office to get some
stuff for some missionaries. Going to the mission office now isn't any fun.
Sisters Peirce and Ta'a are gone. Now it is just boring people. It used to be
something to look forward to. I don't really remember what happened the rest of
the day. One of these days we got Michelle and Pat gi-normous triple
combinations so they could read them. I got those at the mission office when I
was on exchanges with the AP's. Elder Hugie and I were messing around when we
were on separate couches you could read the one the other person was holding.
The letters are huge.
Saturday we had exchanges again. I went into Wildomar's area
with Elder Petersen. I almost died. We had 5 meals we went to. A huge breakfast,
but that one was my fault cuz I set it up with somebody I know in that ward. We
did service, after that they fed us lunch. Another service and another lunch.
Invited to recent converts party with more food. and a big dinner. At dinner
the other Elders talked the member into giving me and Elder Petersen huge
pieces of cake for initiation (the other Elders ate there all the time). It is
ok though, cuz I have been losing weight on accident. The senior couple Elder
and Sister Nickle were at dinner with us as well. They didn't torture them with
huge pieces of cake though. Sister Nickle's maiden name is Sherry Payne. She is
from El Paso. Her brother just got done being a bishop there. His name is Erik
Payne so maybe Grandma knows him. The most interesting part though is that she
knows our new mission President. John Mullin because he grew up in El Paso! So
that will be cool to talk to him about. We had a lesson with Bart and Donna
Lindsey. We didn't have enough time to do what I wanted to. I am going to find a
way back and try again. Donna's parents are coming down for father's day so she
said they might take me out to lunch. That could be my way. We will see if she
calls me or not.
Sunday we got work done. We were pretty busy. We had splits
that night. I was with Bro. Cassio. I think the best part was the everything
fell through. All of our appointments. Because everything fell through we found
two new investigators!! One Bro. Cassio is the fellowshipper and the sisters
are teaching somebody in our area, so we are stealing that one. The other one I
felt like we needed to go visit Gus again even though he has been pretty non
committal. He didn't answer, but when I walked to his door I saw his neighbor
in the yard watering his trees. A thought came into my head to go talk to him.
I ignored it and knocked on Gus' door anyways. Nobody home. Walking back same
thought. Bro Cassio and I walked past and at the same time turned around to go
and talk to him. We talked about it later and we both felt the same thing and
both ignored it the first time. 2nd time we both followed it. It was really
cool. Anyways his name was José. Super nice guy. I talked to him for a minute
to build the relationship but passed it over to Bro. Cassio. Normally I
wouldn't do that. He is the only member I OYM with because he isn't scared.
Nobody else will say anything. He started talking to him in Spanish. I didn't
catch much other than him telling us where our church is but in no time he had
a return appointment set up. It was super cool. It is different when members do
stuff. It changes things for the investigator. It makes normal people like us
haha. That and part member families are the only way in the area.
Our homeshare is in Utah right now. So we are taking care of
the house and the dogs. I tried getting in the car with them when they left,
but they kicked me out. The house is big and lonely for just two missionaries
and buddy (the dog). But it is fun too. I think that is all for the week. That
was a much better letter this time. The last few weeks have been really short.
It is hard to focus when I am writing. Have a good week!
Love ya!
Elder Wood
