Week 98 (Brimhall)

This is going up a couple days early; the week isn't over yet. And we haven't actually talked to Elder Wood, since it's not yet Monday / Preparation Day. But, we will be out of town for the next couple Mondays, and I've gotten some nice pictures uploaded this week, so I thought it'd be nice to have some sort of blog post to cover this week.

All of the photos are from the trip that they had to the Fresno Temple this past Thursday. The mission leaders provided a nice group photo on the parent Facebook group, and Elder Wood uploaded some photos of his own. Hopefully it was a wonderful day at the temple!

Elder Wood and the Fresno Temple

Another temple pose

The group at the Fresno Temple. Elder Wood is far left on  sort of the second row from the front (depending upon how you caught the senior couples as rows).

TC, the Temple Cat. I know Elder Wood is a fan.

Week 97 (Brimhall)

This week was a better one than the previous. Elder Wood was happy that they got to have a baptism for Karen this week. She'd been taught by the sister missionaries who speak ASL, but will be a member of the Brimhall ward, so they all got to participate. Elder Wood said the opening prayer, and Elder Smith gave a talk about baptism. He reports that she was very happy, emotional, and excited, and that he was very grateful to be able to share in her baptism experience.

There were a few more lessons this week as compared to last, which was nice for the missionaries. They met with Patricia, an inactive member of the ward, who was happy to talk with them and also shared some of Elder Wood's hometown Tillamook ice cream with them. It was even an Oregon flavor - marionberry. Their friend Leslie that they connected with via door knocking seems to be looking forward to their appointment next week, and she even responds to texts in a timely fashion!

It hit the news last week that there was a small earthquake near Bakersfield (magnitude 5.2). Elder Wood confirmed that they did feel it, but there was no actual damage anywhere near them. I told him now he can consider himself a real California resident, having made it through his first semi-major earthquake.

This upcoming week is also one that the missionaries are looking forward to. On Tuesday they have their interviews with the mission President (these happen once per 6-week transfer). Then on Thursday they get to attend the Fresno Temple, which they are only able to do every 6 months. And, this weekend an apostle (Elder Gary E. Stevenson) is coming to the area and all of the missionaries will get a chance to hear from him, as well as other church leaders, in a mission-wide meeting. It should be an eventful week!

Bird photo #1 - A gray bird

Bird photo #2 - A blue bird

Wait, that's not a bird, that's a horse! Apparently they turned a corner in their car and a horse was coming down the road towards them. Not something you see every day!

Week 96 (Brimhall)

It was a bit of a frustrating week for the elders of the Brimhall ward. I guess some weeks are like that, but it doesn't make them fun. First, of course, it continues to be HOT! Temperatures remain over 100 degrees every day, and that much heat is just tiring. So that's no fun.

And, there hasn't been a whole lot of success recently in terms of finding people who want to listen to their message. It sounds like there has been a lot of door knocking and a lot of quick rejections. It's apparently extra frustrating since the other two elders they share an apartment with, who are assigned to a different area, have had a lot of success, with lots of people to meet with and even more dinner invitations from members of their ward. Some weeks are just hard.

They did have a "combined district council" meeting this week, so there were some photos from that. Apparently there's a district council meeting each week, where all of the missionaries meet together. But occasionally they have a combined meeting, where everyone from their larger zone meets, and they have a bigger group for conversations.

We're back this week to having more than one bird photo, so that's nice to have some options to share with you. Enjoy the photos and hope with us that next week is more upbeat!

The combined district council

A bird on a fence

A bird on a lawn