September 22, 2014
Dear Family:
Well I have 14 transfers down! 3 More to go!!
Monday was a long time ago... Last week was a very long, but
very short week. I don't remember much other than it was hot. This week it got
up to 114 and then cooled down. I have some good news I got on Saturday though
so the heat won't be bugging me as bad!! I got the coolest transfer call I have
ever gotten before. We didn't really do anything too special for P-day.
Tuesday we had our normal meetings and stuff. After we
killed two birds with one stone and went out to eat for Elder Uwaseke's
birthday and because we had a meeting. After while I was walking in the parking
lot I got stung by a bee! I was kinda mad about that. The stupid thing got me
in the neck! It just flew up and stung me for no reason, like it literally came
out of nowhere. Before I had a chance to have somebody take their tag off and
flip it out Elder Taylor grabbed it and pulled it out so all the sting stuff
went in ha. It ended up swelling pretty good the next day. I looked like I
either had gotten really fat (but only on one side) or I had a tumor. The
swelling was there for 2 almost 3 days, it finally went away though. That
wasn't my last run in with a bee that day though. We had a lesson with David
Volloni. I was doing the opening prayer when all the sudden half way through
David ran away screaming like a little girl. A bee was trying to get him! I was
surprised at how quick he got up and moved, I have never seen him move so fast!
It went away so I tried again only this time I did it Bro. Thacker style with
one eye open. David had his eyes closed and I saw the bee land right in front
of him when I started. I kept going because he didn't notice. I don't know if
he figured it out because I was laughing while I was praying or because he had
his eyes open too but he ran away again during the prayer again. I got up and
smashed that bee. It made me feel a little better about my neck. Finally we got
through the opening prayer but not without another interruption from a bee. The
bees must be wanting to feel the spirit that day because one came back for the
closing prayer. That night we had a meeting with our wards bishopric and two
other wards to organize an open house our ward is hosting this week.
Wednesday is when my neck started to swell. It didn't really
swell on Tuesday. I didn't take very good notes this week, so I don't remember
a lot of what happened. I know we had two member presents, I don't remember who
we taught though. That is pretty bad. I think one of them was David. I know we
went to Riverside that morning. We ran out of Bibles so we had to go get one
for David. Elders Thurman and Burris gave us a ride. While we were out there we
went to see Elder Ringwood. He is going home tomorrow (Tuesday). Pretty crazy!
I am in the same shoes right now that he was in when he left me. That was a
fast 3 transfers. It was good to see him, he has done really well. He is a
super good guy. He is a lot different now then he was at the first of his
mission. He has changed a ton. He is way way more outgoing now.
.JPG)
Elder Ringwood the day before he heads home, Elder Wood, and Elder ?
Thursday I honestly have no recollection of. I did just
remember a lesson from Wednesday though. Anita is somebody we have been trying
to catch for a lesson for a while. She is the one who invited me to the
"party". Anyways we had a good restoration lesson with her. It was
hard to concentrate. It was super hot in her house. Literally my face was
dripping. It was loud and there were kids everywhere. Luckily the spirit isn't
slowed down by things like that and she really liked the lesson. I was super
embarrassed earlier we had given away all our Books of Mormon so we didn't even
have one to give her. It gave us a reason to come back though!! We had an
Aaronic Priesthood Priest with us who had never been on splits before so I
think it was a good experience for him.
Friday we had lots of lessons. I think the best one was one
we weren't expecting. I don't know if you remember me talking about Omar, but
we went to try and stop at his house. He is a wrestler in high school and a
cool kid. That is probably all I had told you. We run into him on the street
once or twice a week and he said he would be there. Somebody answered the door
but I couldn't decide if it was Omar or not. It looked just like Omar, but I
didn't think it was. Turns out it was his brother and he invited us in before
we even had the chance to ask. He was the only one home. I don't remember his
name, so we will just refer to him as Omar's brother. Anyways he really liked
the restoration and grasped the concept well. We had to teach it quickly
because we had a lesson to go to after with David O'Flynn. We only had about 15
minutes to teach it. It is cool to see how God has worked with him in his life.
Right now he is searching. He didn't like the church his mom was bringing him
up in (7th day Adventist) because he wasn't feeling like he was getting enough
out of it. He moved on to another Christian Church that encourages questions
and searching. We told him all of this was happening to prepare him for the
message we were sharing with him and he seemed to agree. He accepted baptism so
we are headed back this week to see what happened.
Elders Wood and Larson and a cute family
Saturday was pretty slow. The coolest thing that happened
was the call we got from President that morning. Saturday morning is leadership
calls. We didn't even consider the thought we would have to worry about it so
we didn't even bother taking our phones when we went and worked out with the
other Elders. Turns out we did. It didn't come until we got back though. I
didn't want to answer because I had no idea what he wanted so I made Elder
Larson answer it. President talked to him for a little bit and then he handed
the phone to me. Long story short we are staying together and getting another
new missionary from the MTC. I will stay one more transfer and then Elder
Larson will finish up his training. We were also really excited because he told
us we would be getting a car! That is all he told us but we were for sure they
would double out the sisters and we would have the whole ward. Saturday night
at calls we figured out we were wrong. Instead we are keeping the half of the
ward we now have and they are giving us all of the Citrus Hills Ward as well! I
am super excited!! This is going to be a really fun transfer. Well I am out of
time! Have a good week! Love ya!
Elder Wood
