Week 40 (Plum Canyon)

Welcome to transfers week! As happens every 6 weeks in the mission, the President assigns many of the missionaries to different areas. After having been in Lone Pine for 3 transfers (18 weeks), it was Elder Wood's turn to move somewhere else. He is now serving in the Plum Canyon ward, which is in Santa Clarita. This is basically the southernmost part of the mission, and he's pretty happy with the assignment, since, while not as high as Lone Pine, it is up on the foothills and therefore not as warm in the summertime. While Bakersfield is forecast to hit 114 degrees (!) this week, Santa Clarita will "only" get to 104.

His new companion, Elder Dunaway, only has 2 transfers remaining in his mission before he returns home, so Elder Wood thinks it's pretty likely he'll be in Santa Clarita for those two transfers plus at least one more to provide some continuity. But time will tell! He says that the new ward is huge, a big contrast to the tiny branch in Lone Pine. So there are more people to interact with, but a much smaller area, since it's much more densely populated there. In fact it was a bike area of the mission up until recently, so he was very happy that they now have a car there, both due to the high heat and because there are apparently a whole lot of very steep hills! Elder Wood is the designated driver again for this transfer, which always makes him happy because then he's not the one who is navigator and phone-answerer.

The new missionary district is also larger - the last area in Lone Pine, there were only 4 missionaries total in the district. This time there are 8, made up of 3 companionships of elders and 1 of sister missionaries. He was happy to see an old friend again; his companion back in Mojave, Elder Erickson, is also in the district. Their apartment is a quad, with 4 total missionaries living there, and it has the great luxury of containing a dishwasher! (Neither of his previous mission apartments have had one.) It sounds like at least a couple of the others living there also like playing board games, so he should have some board game time to enjoy on future preparation days when they can play.

This is a long entry with all the transfer news, so I'll just do a quick mission news summary. In the few days he had in Lone Pine before the transfer, they were able to have several lessons with people, but no major updates on any of them. On Independence Day, they were able to attend and help at a community BBQ in the small town of Independence (the day is named for them, of course they have to have a big celebration!) They didn't stay out to see fireworks, though, since they had to be at home by 7 PM - ie before any fireworks and accompanying parties started, leading to potential alcohol and drunk driving - they want to be sure the missionaries are safe on the road! Instead all of the missionaries had the exciting assignment of getting their bathrooms clean.

Plum Canyon is a new and exciting place for him to be - I'm looking forward to hearing more about the work there next week!

Elder Wood and his previous companion, Elder Wright, saying farewell during the transfer exchanges

Can you spot Elder Wood in this photo of elders at the transfer shared by the Mission President? (Spoiler alert, no, you can't because he said they'd already left before it was taken.)

Bird photo: Probably a flying raptor?

Another bird photo: Some crows feasting on fruit from a tree