Week 47 (Plum Canyon)

This week the Plum Canyon ward had a new ward mission leader sustained. Elder Wood really likes him and is excited to work with him. He reports that he's doing a great job of getting people excited to work with the missionaries. In other mission news, they had Zone Conference this week, where the missionaries from multiple zones get together to receive instruction and inspiration. I like them because the mission leaders post photos from them to Facebook where I can find pictures of Elder Wood.

Elder Wood was also happy to report that they were able to teach some lessons this week to some of their friends who aren't (yet!) members of the ward. They especially like meeting with a friend who apparently owns a large ranch. The missionaries volunteer and help out on the ranch sometimes, and they get to meet the animals. The family that owns the ranch work in show business training animals, including birds (of course), dogs, and even emus!

For their Preparation Day this week, the district met at a church to play some four square. They even managed to take a few pictures of themselves afterward. The elders in the four-man apartment also played a game of Expeditions, the new board game that Elder Wood asked us to mail to him. It sounds like they all enjoyed it!

The missionaries at Zone Conference

Lunch at Zone Conference

The entire zone

The district after playing four square

Bird photo: One of the macaws trained by the ranch family

Week 46 (Plum Canyon)

Another week, another update from Plum Canyon! The mission had transfers this week, and as expected, Elder Wood remained in the Plum Canyon ward. Somewhat surprisingly, though, he has a new companion - Elder Dunaway was transferred elsewhere for his final six weeks. His new companion, Elder Krumbah, has been a missionary for one transfer less than Elder Wood has. They enjoyed determining that, of the 4 missionaries in their apartment, they have been serving for 6, 7, 8, and 9 transfers - a nice ascending sequence and what sounds like the start of a logic puzzle! In other fun transfer news, Elder Wood was tickled to see that his previous companion in Lone Pine, Elder Wright, has been transferred and is now companions with another Elder Wright, no relation. He jokes that with Elders Wright & Wright they must be the "most true and correct" companionship in the entire mission!

The big news this past week has been the hurricane approaching southern California. On Sunday after church, all of the missionaries in the mission were instructed to "shelter in place" meaning stay in their apartments. Elder Wood claims that it did rain pretty hard, and there were flood warnings in place, but nothing much actually happened, and he wasn't concerned. Of course, some other areas of California do have a lot of flooding, but I'm grateful that he wasn't impacted. There was also a smallish earthquake (magnitude 5.0 I think) somewhat nearby, which they did feel, but again nothing that caused damage or was concerning. As of Monday morning it was cloudy, but not actively raining, and some of the streets were drying out already, so it sounds like they're through the worst of it.

In mission news, they were happy to find form their door knocking, someone who has become a "yellow dot" - someone who is potentially interested in talking to them further. When they knocked, he said he'd always been interested in reading the Book of Mormon and would be happy to know more. That was a couple days ago, so they hope to stop by again soon, and if they're lucky he will become a "green dot" - someone they're actively teaching.

The final bit of news was their car trouble this week. Apparently a bolt fell out of their car somewhere in the suspension system. The car went out of alignment, but taking it in to fix that didn't reveal the actual problem. Then a few days later the car went into "limp mode" meaning it won't go over 15 mph. They took it to the dealership who was able to fix it, although they said at a cost of far too much (paid by the mission) and a couple days where they had to make do without it. They're very happy to have it back and running again!

Taken at district conference while they were getting ready to pose for a photo (I didn't get the actual photo...)

Elder Wood's Lego creation from P-Day. This is apparently, his kitchen sink rocket, which contains all the non-Lego pieces he could find, including a kitchen sink.

Ack! This is indeed a black widow, although thankfully they spotted it near a fence as they were walking along, and not in their apartment.

Only one bird photo for you this week.

Week 45 (Plum Canyon)

No update last week since I was traveling, but it sounds like there continues to be not a lot really happening in the Plum Canyon ward. The missionaries spend most of their time doing some meetings and getting to know the members of the ward, or else knocking on doors hoping to find someone with interest in learning more from them. They were excited this week that they had a good lesson with one of their friends. It sounds like he may come to church with them soon to see what he thinks of the church experience.

It continues to be quite hot in Santa Clarita, with several days over a hundred degrees this past week. However, Elder Wood says no complaints because he could be in Bakersfield, where it's 110 or even more most days. Hopefully as the summer winds down things will cool off a little.

This week for their Preparation Day activity their district was meeting at the church (which has air conditioning and is out of the sun) for a pizza lunch and some Lego building activities. The companionship of sister missionaries in their district were in charge of the Lego, so he wasn't sure what to expect but thought it sounded like fun.

Transfers are coming up this week. With the new schedule, though, he doesn't yet know any details. They'll get those on Wednesday, and then the transfers happen on Friday. However, he's pretty confident that he'll stay where he is, since he's only been in Plum Canyon for 6 weeks so far.

Not a lot by way of photos this week, so again please enjoy the lovely birds!

Bird photo

Another bird photo

Week 43 (Plum Canyon)

At church this week, the Plum Canyon had a special lesson about missions and missionary work. It sounds like the youth (12-17) met separately from the adults, and Elder Wood and Elder Dunaway were able to spend some time talking to them and answering there questions about how to prepare to be a missionary. I think Elder Wood enjoyed talking to them and getting to know some of the youth in the ward better.

The friends that the elders are working with haven't been progressing all that quickly, or haven't been available to meet, so they've spent a fair amount of time knocking on doors, hoping to meet new people. That isn't always the best way to meet people, so they are always happy to have referrals, but when nothing else is available there are always doors to knock! It has been hot there, but Elder Wood says it's been "bearable" so I'm glad he isn't suffering too much.

I asked how their mission handles "junior" and "senior" companions - in a lot of missions they will designate one of the companions as the senior (usually more experienced one). It sounds like in this mission they don't, they are just both senior companions. When someone is new (their first two transfers or 12 weeks) then they are a junior companion, or a "trainee" but otherwise there's no designated senior companion. They do have the designated driver vs. phone person, though, so maybe that is sufficient.

This week the 4 elders in their apartment (or maybe their whole district, I wasn't clear) are celebrating "Hyper Christmas". They decided that since at Christmas time in December they should be more focused on Jesus Christ and his birth, in July they could do a more secular time and liven things up a little. So apparently they have hung Christmas lights on their apartment and even plan to exchange small gifts. That Hyper Christmas gathering was happening after I spoke to him this Monday / Preparation Day, so maybe I'll hear more about how it went next week.

Again a lot of bird photos for the week, but a few others for your enjoyment as well.

Elder Dunaway and Elder Wood, with ice cream on a hot day

A screenshot from a video he posted on Facebook with a short message

Bird photo #1: A woodpecker

Bird photo #2: Quail

Bird photo #3: Yellow birds (I think there are 2 of them)

Bird photo #4: A blue bird