Week 18 (Rosamond)

Not as much to report this week, says Elder Wood. He did get an opportunity to visit and attend the Los Angeles temple, and told us that he enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences to the other temples he's visited before (Portland and Provo). Sounds like once his mission is over he may want to become a temple tourist!

They continued to do their work of finding and teaching. Their new person (J.C., mentioned last week, the neighbor of a current ward member) is doing really well and has been coming to church every week. It sounds like he will likely choose to be baptized; they are just working through the rest of the lessons and concepts they have to teach with him.

I also asked about the previous drug addict that he'd mentioned to me in the past. He is doing very well in stabilizing his life - he seems to be off drugs and is looking for a job, which is great news. He isn't necessarily interested in learning more about the gospel, though, so they may end up letting him continue his life until he reaches out wanting to know more in the future. But they feel good that they've been able to help him and have shared a lot of the ideas and materials that the church has in its addiction recovery program, so it's nice to hear that things are going better for him than when they first met.

Spiritual thought for this week: Moroni 8:25 reads "And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;" This scripture tells us that the remission of sins follows repentance, as you'd expect. But here, the one doesn't immediately follow the other. There are steps in between. According to Mormon, we must first repent, then we must be baptized, then we must fulfill, or obey, the commandments, and only then are we redeemed.

Apparently there's an Oreo collecting hobby - here are Elder Wood and Elder Erickson with their latest find.

Combined District Council - the entire zone together, which in this case is made up of two districts

Using the zoom on his phone to get a picture of the angel Moroni statue on top of the Los Angeles Temple

Bird photo: These tiny yellow birds are new; apparently they're only about half the size of your fist.