August 18, 2014
Dear Family:
Monday was crazy! It took me forever to pack! I have a lot
of stuff... I had a ride set up for 8 in the morning but that wasn't going to
work. I hadn't seen everybody before I went so I set up a different one for
later. When I got to Corona, Elder Thurman helped me unload my stuff. I served
with him in Lake Elsinore. The roles are switched now though. It is kinda
weird. He was training while I was a ZL and now I am training while he is a ZL!
I stayed with him and Elder Wood (brown
wood) because he is training as well! This is the 3rd time I have been in the
same zone as Elder Wood. He got doubled into Temescal Valley. That was the ward
I was in last time I was in Corona. It was weird having him drive me around in
my car! We had fun though. Monday and the first half of Tuesday we didn't
really have anything to do. I helped Elder Wood out a little. I wrote down a
list of people for him to see. The missionaries after me were idiots. The only
and the last things that are in the area book (I opened a new area) are the
things that I put in there, so everything that was done between Elder Wood and
Elder Wood was nothing. I am not the best at using my area book, but I make
sure that the new missionaries can find my old investigators! The Hoyts told me
the area was dead and they had very few investigators, and I know they had
taught a few people. One’s name is Peter
but now it is impossible to find him! I looked through the ward list and wrote
down all the members I knew who were missionary minded and could help them out.
I am going to have to bust this out quick I only have 30 minutes left!!
Tuesday we went to Riverside to get our new missionaries! I
love training. The two other times I have trained have been the best parts of
my mission! They fed us dinner there and the meeting went long so we didn't get
home until about 9. It was cool to see how excited Elder Feist was to train.
That makes me a grandpa in the missionary world. I kept giving Elder Feist a
hard time he was going to get a super weird one that did something dumb in
front of everyone. I didn't really want that to happen though. We both got the
two coolest ones by far! I was worried I was going to get somebody who was
weird because this time I have been out for a while and I would be able to deal
with it better. Elder Larson is really cool though. We have a lot of the same
interests.
My new trainee is the one with strawberry blond hair. His name is Elder Larson from Centerville UT. Elder Feist is training Elder Gormus, So in other words I am a grandpa (trainer)!!
Wednesday we had DDM and got to meet the zone. I am so happy
to just have to worry about my own area and not any other missionaries now. It
is the best!! That is what I told President I would prefer. Our week didn't
really start until Wednesday. We had a meeting with our Bishop. The Ludvicson's
(the senior missionary couple in our ward) took us to somebody’s house they
gave a Book Of Mormon too, but it hasn't gone anywhere yet. We had a bomb first
dinner for Elder Larson. Younger couple, really cool. He is lucky he didn't get
somebody wacko for his first one!
Thursday we had his first real lesson. He is lucky he didn't
have a crazy one of those too! I told him all the missionaries I have been with
have had crazy first lessons to start them off. I guess the Lord really does
answer prayers, cuz he answered Elder Larson's!! We met with our Ward Mission Leader
both Thursday and Friday. Elder Larson busted his peddle off his bike his 2nd
day, so the last couple hours we were on foot! I think the Office Elders cross
threaded his peddle and that is why it busted.
Friday we stole the Spanish Missionaries car to take his
bike to the shop. He has to get a whole new crank which is over 100 bucks. He
got permission to call his dad cuz he is a bike guy so he is just going to send
us the parts and we will fix it. We made a big list and got things pretty
organized. For the most part we just tried to find people to teach this whole week!!
We went to lunch at Chili’s cuz it was Elder Thurman's B-day.
Saturday we had two team-ups to take us around and hit
people up. Nobody really answered or worked out though!! One of them was our Ward
Mission Leader. I think he likes us more than the Sisters already. I share a
ward by the way with the Sisters. I am tired of doing that. I want to share
with Elders or have my own ward! I almost want to do something stupid so
President doesn’t trust me to be around them all the time. I wouldn't actually
do that though. Don't worry! The Walters from last time I was in Corona came
and picked us up for dinner cuz we didn't have one set up so that was super
fun.
Sunday we scheduled so we could have max prime work our guts
out time! But we still didn't really get any lessons. We will get em next week
though!! There is a new recent convert we are going to be working with. His
name is David O'Flynn. He is a super short Irish guy. He accent is awesome. He
looks exactly like Robbin Williams except way shorter and more Irish ha. I told
Elder Larson that and he told me Robbin Williams killed himself. I thought he
was messing with me though. The members told me it was true though. Anyways
David is awesome! I am super excited to teach him. Well I am all out of time!
Love ya tons!!
Elder Wood
