Monday, November 17, 2014

Visit to the Temescal Valley Ward


November 17, 2014 

Dear Family: 

Monday was good. Normal P-day. For dinner a member gave us money so instead of going to dinner we got an extra hour long P-day. The day just goes by way too fast! The rest of the week seems to have no problem taking its time though! Speaking of things taking forever I still have forever left on my mission. Don't worry I am hanging on, but Skyler is coming home in two weeks. So if you could go to his homecoming for me?  Or at least like call him maybe if you can't make it. That would be awesome. I miss him, Jetson, and Kaiden. Even though we talk every week haha. We went to FHE. It was clear down in the Temescal Valley ward where I used to serve. We ended up being late and just catching the last bit of it. A lot more people are coming out then when I first got here. It is actually pretty fun. Yes, really awkward at times, but fun. There is a ton of potential for missionary work too. That is like the best part I think. There is one girl named Julia who just got home from her mission. She has already taken a bunch of Books of Mormon from us to give to people she meets and is trying hard to find somebody for us to teach. A lot of the returned missionaries are doing their best to help us out besides her as well.  
Elder Wood and Elder Robins
 
Tuesday we had our regular meetings in the morning. It was a super nice day. We had cloud cover all day and it kept it from getting hot. We thought it would rain but we had no luck. We did service for a part member family we are teaching. Mario Segera. I am pretty sure I told you about him already. We had to talk him into letting us help and he finally gave in. He didn't want help because he knows he could do it on his own but we wanted to do service for him! We just did yard work. Trim trees and weed eat mostly. There was a lot to weed eat. It was fun for me though. I got to work on the weed eater and get it started. It felt good to get to use a power tool Sometimes it is nice to physically see what is coming out of your labor. The natural man I guess. We all like immediate gratification!  I can't believe I thought that was fun though. I hated doing that before my mission. Don't worry after about a day or two of manual labor I will probably not enjoy it anymore so, no Dad you don't need to add anything else to my "list" haha. We had a lesson with the Joachimstalers. Don’t try and pronounce it. It sounds nothing like it looks. I guess mostly the daughter. Her mom wants us to teach her the lessons before she gets baptized. She mostly wants her husband to sit in and listen who is not a member but he didn't end up being there.  

Wednesday I don't remember what we did. I didn't write anything down. I think we might have come to the church to work on Elder Robbin’s BYU application. If so all I know is I brought my guitar and I broke my nice pick. I didn't even know you could do that. They are just plastic though and I have more. You guys asked about Elder Robbins. I guess I forgot to tell you about him. He is from West Valley. Has been on his mission 15 months or so I think. Also Elder Caples moved in with me! That has been fun. His new companion is Elder Barton. I was looking at his pictures the other day and he was in one with Hallie Pugh. I guess they were pretty good friends before he came out here. 

Thursday we went to Redlands to go to the doctor. Hopefully I have told you about my doctor, but he is really cool. He is a super good Christian guy. We had some great discussions about the gospel. I was going to do my best to get him to take the lessons and get his address and stuff but he wasn't there! It was another guy! Unfortunately that was my last time going. We went to Cafe Rio after :) At night we went to the Bishopric Training meeting with the Stake Presidency. I was just planning on talking to them for like 10 minutes but it ended up being almost like an hour. President Aragon (who is a boss) kept asking us questions and opening it up to discussion. It went really well. Like a lot better than I would have expected it. The Bishops asked really good questions and were really willing to learn and make changes. We have a Bishop who is notorious for not getting along with his missionaries at all. Then just one or two who don't do anything for or against them. And then the rest are all great Bishops. I called out the bad one on accident a little bit. I didn't mean to say what I did it just kinda flew out of my mouth before I even realized what he said. I was sitting by President Zimmerman. It caught him off guard and he accidentally laughed haha. I think that was the funniest part. I found out today that the meeting actually helped. The one who struggles with the missionaries approached them and said he wants to start going out with them. I was really surprised by that. We had a lesson after with Sarah. Things are headed in the right way! We taught some of the commandments. She is ready to be interviewed this week. Still there is only one roadblock in our path. She is super nervous for us to come to her house and get the baptismal white signed by her parents. Not just nervous but like way beyond. It bothers me she really doesn't want us to do that. It makes me think she really hasn't talked to her parents about it like she should and told us she has. Realistically this whole thing could get blown way out of proportion. She just needs to talk to them. But if she has talked to them things will be smooth. If so great! Maybe she just is nervous for us to come over for some other reason. 

Friday I also didn't take notes so I don't remember what we did. That could have been the day we came to the church and did the BYU application for my comp. Either way we did it one of the days. The funny thing is after we spent all that time he isn't going to apply there anymore. He is really slow at writing essays (he says I don't know) and he wasn’t even close to finishing so he decided to give up and apply elsewhere. He said with his grades and stuff he wouldn't have made it in. Oh well, I just played guitar when he was applying so either way is fine with me.  

Saturday we had exchanges I got to go back to Temescal Valley Ward for a day! It was super fun. Plus I got to drive my favorite mission car! They really don't have anything going on. It is a hard area. Only one person has gotten baptized in that ward since the people I taught a year ago and that was like two weeks ago in the sisters area. The Elder’s area hasn't had much luck finding people. I stopped in on the Hoyts! It was good to chat with Brother Hoyt for a bit. Sister Hoyt had a migraine so I didn't get to talk to her unfortunately. I still know that area like the back of my hand. I have never known a ward better. If I have it was the Fruitvale Ward. I think I knew where every member, less active, and part member family lived in my side of the ward, and most of where the members were in the Sister’s area. I knew the ones that fed us at least! We didn't even use the GPS. I was pretty proud of myself haha. It was just really fun for me to get to go back. I went with Elder Godfrey. He has only been in that area for 2 weeks now. I served with him in Lake Elsinore so that made the exchange even more fun.  

Sunday we had stake MCM in the morning. Then straight to Auburnadale Ward. Then YSA. It was really busy. After YSA they had a break the fast sort of deal but it was really for Thanksgiving. They did it early so when people went out of town they wouldn't miss it. I think that is the most people we have seen in this YSA Sacrament Meeting. If there is food they will come! After that we had dinner with the Wheats. They had a special dinner for their good friend Kelsey. She pretty much lives there. It was her year mark from getting baptized. She is putting her mission papers in soon. Steve has got some friends he is trying to get to take the lessons. He is supposed to be talking to Jenna again this week. He had a cool experience where one of his friends on his football team who is a senior in high school "atheist" texted him asking questions about God. Hopefully the dialog continues. Well that is pretty much all I got! Have a good week! Love ya!

Elder Wood