Week 54 (Plum Canyon)

It sounds like the weeks are starting to blend together for Elder Wood in Plum Canyon. He's been there for 2.5 transfers now (15 weeks) so think it's likely that the next transfer period (3 weeks from now) he will go elsewhere in the mission. But only time will tell. And for now, he's focused on the good people in Plum Canyon.

They continued to have a good number of meetings and messages and lessons with the members of the Plum Canyon ward. They also had a few lessons with families where one spouse or the other is not a member, so they can teach them more about the gospel. Their record this week was 5 lessons in a single day! Saturday ended up as a busy day this past week, too. Their district leadership had been sick earlier in the week, so they moved their district council meeting to Saturday. And, they had lessons scheduled that day. And, they were also invited to the birthday party of a child in the ward for that day. Elder Wood wasn't totally sure why they were invited (he also wasn't sure how old the child was, his only estimate was "under 10 years old"). But, they enjoyed the party and he said they connected with another member of the ward there and set up a lesson with them, so it was time well spent.

I believe it was that same Saturday evening, but it might have been another night this past week, that they had a ward activity which was a BBQ and included a "cookoff" competition. The chefs BBQed and attendees compared and voted for the tri-tip vs. the ribs vs. the chicken. The ribs were declared the winner, and Elder Wood said that was the right choice!

Elder Wood was complaining a little today about how hot it remains there in Santa Clarita. I was telling him it was in the 70's and raining here, and he said he'd much rather have that than the 95 degrees and hot they have there. They did their district activity today indoors to avoid the heat, meeting at the church to play some basketball and other indoor sports.

That's about all the news of the week, and I'll apologize in advance since I got nothing but bird photos this week, and not many of those to boot. So enjoy the three best ones!

Spiritual thought of the week: "We are commanded to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Why? Because by setting aside an entire day for the things of God, we're able to more easily make the time to strengthen our spirits. Additionally, God knows that humans need rest. As such, he has ordained that we should all rest at least one day a week."

Bird photo #1: Pretty yellow markings in the grass

Bird photo #2: Mostly brown on a park bench

Bird photo #3: Raven/crow at the top of the tree, and a smaller brownish bird in the center of the photo