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

Week 95 (Brimhall)

Elder Wood and Elder Smith got to attend a baptism this week, for someone in their zone. He said that was a neat experience. They were also able to meet with Karen, who is the friend getting baptized soon in their ward. She speaks ASL, so another pair of missionaries have been teaching her, but since she'll be in their ward, they also attended some meetings with her. Karen has now passed her baptismal interview and they're working together to plan her upcoming baptism in a couple weeks!

As another item related to Karen, the Brimhall Ward is looking likely to become the home of a new ASL group in the Bakersfield Stake, where multiple different people from the stake can attend together and receive interpretation of meetings. Assuming that happens, the mission president would also like to replace the elders there with some sisters who speak ASL; he is working to figure out how housing would work for that change. Thus, Elder Wood may end up being transferred elsewhere in the next transfer, which is still about 4 weeks away.

While working in their area this week, the elders knocked on a lot of doors and met a lot of people, but they weren't able to find any new friends who were interested in learning more. Elder Wood says they've talked about using a slightly different door approach, that may help those answering to think a little bit more instead of just giving a kneejerk "No" response. We wish them success! He did report some interesting conversations online with some people who connected with them via Facebook. In one case, the man asked some good questions about God and religion, and seemed surprised when Elder Wood actually had some thought-through answers to share with him. Elder Wood didn't think he'd changed the man's opinions on religion, but hopes that he's given him some things to think about.

The next 10 weeks or so have some exciting things to look forward to. As mentioned above, there may be a transfer coming. And, this current transfer is their scheduled every 6 months visit to the temple, so he is looking forward to visiting the Fresno Temple again. Then, in the next transfer (his final one!) he and the other departing missionaries will also be able to do one more temple visit before they leave for home. And, sometime in the next few weeks, there is a leadership meeting in the Bakersfield area. The missionaries have been informed that there will be an apostle in attendance, and that he would like to have a meeting with all of the missionaries in the mission in attendance - Elder Wood is very much looking forward to that meeting!

Only a few pictures to share this week - it's shocking, but there was only one single bird photo taken! Luckily for the rest of us, there were Zone Conferences this week, meaning the mission leaders share some photos they took there.

Elder Wood's table at the Bakersfield Zone Conference

Group photo from Zone Conference - Elder Wood is 2nd row from the top, 9th from the right side 

The one and only bird photo!

Week 94 (Brimhall)

Transfers last week turned out to be mostly a non-event for Elder Wood. He was pretty sure he'd stay put in the Brimhall Ward, but he was happy that his companion, Elder Smith, stayed also. It had been a possibility to combine the Brimhall area with another one (Rosedale), but that didn't happen, either, so they still have a 4-man apartment. One of the other elders did get transferred elsewhere, though, and Elder Jo joined them, so at least something is different!

There was also not a lot of news to report about the work in Brimhall. Elder Wood was happy that there will be a baptism in the ward on August 10, though! It isn't someone they've been teaching, because Karen communicates using ASL, and so the missionaries who know ASL have taught her. But he's excited to attend her baptism and to have her as an official part of the ward. Their young friend Ryder continues to be close to baptism, but they didn't get a chance to meet with him this week.

In other news, the Brimhall missionaries now have a car! This fact makes them pretty happy, especially since the heat in Bakersfield remains (I believe it got up to 109 degrees at least one day this week). He also reports that their new car, a Volkswagen Tiguan, is pretty fancy, with lots of neat features that he enjoys. Elder Smith is the designated driver, so Elder Wood gets to be the copilot and navigator and play with some of the features.

The other mission-related news is that the church is apparently (or so the rumors say) going to release some specific recommendations for what exercises the missionaries can/should do. Right now they just say "exercise 30 minutes a day" which is not very helpful. Elder Wood says sometimes, depending upon his companion, they'll go for a run. He doesn't really like running, but he finds it efficient. Sounds about right to me!

Elder Wood and Elder Smith, from a video they created for the Bakersfield Stake Young Men's Camp

A crow with a beady eye

A bluebird

Week 93 (Brimhall)

This week has transfers coming up in the Bakersfield mission. They won't find out more until later in the week, but Elder Wood thinks it's likely he's staying where he is, but "I expect chaos around me". It's possible that his area will be combined with another, or maybe not, or maybe the district will change. He'll find out! Mostly he's just hoping at the end of it he'll be in an area that has a car!

He says the biking is going okay, although of course it's hot. He did say that it's less the heat and more the bright sun that really bothers him, so having his new sunglasses has really helped him out. He's definitely a fan!

In missionary work this week, they were especially excited that Ryder, a boy they're teaching, is close to choosing to be baptized. He's about 10, and apparently a lot of his family are members of the church, but he's never been baptized. Apparently he has a cousin who recently returned from a mission, and he'd like that cousin to baptize him. They'll see how their upcoming appointments with him go.

There are a few other people that they're teaching, or have appointments to teach, but that was the main news that Elder Wood shared. He also mentioned that the stake he's serving in has asked him and his companion (and possibly other missionaries as well) to make short videos that they can share at their Young Men's Camp, which is coming up later this summer. Elder Wood is happy to encourage them to prepare for missions and service.

Elder Wood with some graffiti they found

Elder Smith with the graffiti

A restaurant sign they passed - apparently the only choice for dinner is pizza!

Bird photo #1: A little yellow bird, a bit blurry, but they enjoyed watching him bathing in a puddle

Bird photo #2: A blue bird

Week 92 (Brimhall)

Apologies for the lack of recent updates. Elder Wood is still in Bakersfield, focusing hard on the work, but his family has been away out of town without much computer access the past few weeks.

I'll try to give an overview of what we've learned over the past month or so. Elder Wood is enjoying the Brimhall Ward. There are wonderful families that he's gotten to know, and a couple of families that I believe he especially enjoys. The members of the ward treat the missionary well and invite them to dinner.

The missionary work proceeds a little slowly in Brimhall, since they don't have a lot of friends who are actively meeting with them. But they are working to get to know them and build their connections, both with those friends and with members of the ward.

A kind member of the ward, who is also an eye doctor, invited the missionaries to come in for reduced price eye exams and glasses. Elder Wood was happy to have some updated glasses, since he's been wearing the same ones for nearly two years now. They even came with clip-on sunglass lenses, which he kindly demonstrated for us in the photos. And speaking of photos, since it's been so long since the last update, I had to pull our four bird photos instead of two, since there were so many more options available.

The Brimhall area is technically a missionary bike area. However, given the onerous heat in Bakersfield recently (I believe the high was 116 this week, and it's triple digits pretty much all the time), they often do more walking than biking. The other elders in their apartment also share the car with them regularly, so they're sometimes able to get places via driving.

Overall Elder Wood seems happy and grateful to be able to be in the Bakersfield Mission and have the opportunity to serve there. I look forward to doing more regular blog posts for him going forward!

With his new glasses

Showing off the sunglasses option

Bird photo #1: A brown bird blending in

Bird photo #2: A white bird on a fence

Bird photo #3: A blue bird in a tree

Bird photo #4: Multiple birds on the lawn!