Week 25 (Lone Pine)

Not a lot of news to share this week. Our family is visiting relatives right now in Northern California, so during his weekly call, Elder Wood got to say hello to a number of them, which was fun for everyone involved.

It sounds like a lot of their time is spent driving, since the area in Lone Pine is so spread out. They do service up in Bishop, more than an hour north, and their Branch President is in a city an hour south of them, and at least once this week they had to make the two-hour drive directly from one to the other.

They are preparing and working with some members in their branch to make Easter activities or gifts to give to people, so that has been a good effort for them.

This coming week is Elder Wood's 20th birthday, so we sent him a birthday package with some snacks and small games in it. He of course opened it early, but we were happy to see that he enjoyed it. For Pday, they went on a hike nearby at Whitney Portal. They had the chance to get some pretty views of the mountains, and to enjoy the snow. It's all melted in town where they live and spend most of their time, but there's still plenty in the nearby mountains!

Elder Wood and Elder Haney at a nice outdoor location. It looks like the flooding has basically reached their picnic table, so water is still pretty high there.

Elder Haney looking cold while preparing to make a snow angel on their hike today.

The Sierra Nevada mountains on their hike

Weekly bird photo - He says this was some sort of raptor

More birds, since he didn't take many pictures this week.

Week 24 (Lone Pine)

There was much sadness today in Elder Wood's district; the 4 of them seem to have become pretty close in the last few weeks. But one of the elders (Elder Watts, he of the prosthetic leg in last week's photos), is sadly being emergency transferred elsewhere today. Emergency transfer means one that doesn't happen on the normal 6-week schedule (which they are about halfway through right now), and apparently there is some reason he's needed elsewhere to replace someone else (I don't really understand the full story). Anyway, at least if they have to lose him, Elder Wood reports, it's good news that the replacement is someone he knew from his last area, so at least it's a familiar face.

In general, it sounds like, other than the emergency transfer, there hasn't been too much of excitement going on in the area this week. The weather has been warming up, although it is forecast to get a bit cooler soon. They haven't had any snow, but there has been a lot (a lot!) of rain, which combined with all the melting snow from earlier, has resulted in some flooding issues. Nothing that impacts them directly, but they see a lot of it as they drive around.

And, as usual, a lot of regular driving in the area. They drove to Palmdale to get the estimate for their potential car repair (and will have to return there sometime in future if the mission decides that they should go ahead with the repairs). They had a couple exchanges with other companionships in their zone, and they met a new senior couple, who are now apparently part of their district, but live up in the Bishop/ Mammoth area.

So that is about all the news, but enjoy the photos below, including some of their celebration of Pi Day (March 14) and their pizza dare.

Spiritual thought for this week: Jesus Christ doesn't want us to go through the struggles of life alone, but He also can't do it for us. We need to put in the effort we can, to go as far as we possibly can. Once we've come as far as we can, even if it's not very far, He will pick us up and carry us the rest of the way. So we need to put in that effort. Salvation may not be expensive, but it's not entirely free. We offer as payment a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

Celebrating Pi Day with Elder Kirby, one of his zone leaders, during an exchange

With Elder Watts on exchanges; this is the Darwin Memorial Monument (although it's not actually in Darwin, and it's just a rock with a plaque on it)

Elders Watts, McCurdy, Haney, and Wood at a district lunch. They challenged themselves to eat a 28" pizza (and got through about half, then took the rest home for leftovers)

They played a card game on P-Day today; Elder Wood apparently challenged himself to hold his hand with chopsticks

Weekly bird photo: Unidentified small bird, but nice blue sky and tree background

One more bird photo - sadly a bit out of focus, but he got a photo of a hawk who has just captured some prey (a mouse?)

Week 23 (Lone Pine)

A lot of driving happened this week! If you look at the photos below, you'll see quite a few of them taken from the window of a car. And no bird videos, that's a first!

This week they had a zone conference, where the mission president and other leadership from the mission talk to them. In addition to lots of inspiration, he says he was interested to hear that they may start doing more Facebook finding. This doesn't exactly thrill Elder Wood, who is not a social media fan, but if that's how they find people, then he'll give it a try. It would be up to an hour a day for everyone involved, so they'll see whether that happens or not.

Their zone conference was about 2.5 hours away from them, in a city whose name I have now forgotten. After driving there for the conference, on the way home it turned out that the highway (395) was closed due to flooding. (There's been a lot of flooding in California recently.) So, they went back to Ridgecrest and got permission to say with the zone leaders who live there for the night. The next day they met with their branch's president (who lives in Ridgecrest) and eventually were able to head home to Lone Pine. This coming week, they get to drive even further, to a city called Palmdale, where they have an appointment for a car repair estimate (one of the previous companionships apparently dinged up the doors).

In other news, Elder Wood's parents got the photo this week (they upload to the cloud) of him wearing an eye patch (see below) and had multiple questions. Today we finally got answers; apparently he managed to scratch his eye while sleeping, and since it was painful he wore the eyepatch to protect it from further damage until he could get to a doctor. Which I believe was later that day, although he didn't specifically say. The doctor was able to confirm the scratch and prescribe some eye drops/antibiotics to help it heal, and he says it's all good now. In that same picture, the elder next to him is holding up a prosthetic leg, which belongs to the next elder over (Elder Watts) who has apparently needed one since he was a child. Anyway, a picture with all sorts of interesting medical notes.

Spiritual thought for the week: All that Jesus Christ asks of us is that at least once each week we truly remember Him. That we take upon ourselves His name and do our best to be worthy of it. That we remember the blood He shed for us, not only on the cross at Calvary but also in the garden of Gethsemane. If we do this, we have access to the full power of what He has accomplished. The full power of His Atoning sacrifice.

A photo of Zone Conference. Elder Wood is back row, 2nd from right.

The district: Elder Wood (with eyepatch), Elder Haney (with prosthetic leg), Elder Watts (owner of the prosthetic leg), and Elder McCurdy

Lots of driving, part 1: A rainbow arcing across town

Lots of driving, part 2: The brownish color behind the fence is all water/flooding.

Lots of driving, part 3: Cows. The snow-covered mountains in the background are pretty!

For PDay today, they visited an abandoned mine.

Elder Wood found some pictures of scriptural heroes and took photos of them. We think this must be a righteous Lamanite warrior, but not sure.

Week 22 (Lone Pine)

Elder Wood says hello from Lone Pine! It is apparently (and not surprisingly) a bit colder than it was in Mojave. He says he's put the hand warmers we gave him for Christmas to good use. He's getting used to the new area. They apparently live in a trailer on a reservation in Lone Pine, which he says is warm and comfortable enough, and has its own washer/dryer, so it works fine. There is a lot more driving in this area, since it ranges from Darwin in the south up almost to Bishop in the north

The district here is only 4 elders, Elder Wood and Elder Haney, plus one other companionship in Bishop. They drove up there mid-week to help with some service at a food bank in Bishop, and then went up there again on P-Day. It sounds like there aren't as many outdoor games played in this area on P-Day, with only 4 of them there, but they will get to do some hiking in the area. This week they were planning to play some card games. He also told me a fun story about (apparently a little while back) when the bishop of the ward in Bishop had the last name of Bishop - so he was Bishop Bishop from Bishop!

Lone Pine is a branch instead of a ward, so it's a lot smaller. He said there were 23 people at church on Sunday, and there are only 100 total contacts (I believe that is both members and people they've taught recently) in their records. But the church does own a small building there, so they had a nice place to meet.

Spiritual thought for the week: Jesus is the one who paid the price for us, and because of that, He now has the right to set a new price for us. And He doesn't ask much. Rather than perfection, He asks us to become a little better each day. To get a little closer to Him each day. And He doesn't even ask us to do it alone. He gives us the power of the Atonement to help us make those changes.

A farewell to members of his previous district in Mojave/Rosamond. I believe they wore trench coats in his honor.

Apparently a semi-well-known site called the Rosamond Cross

A last photo with some friends in Rosamond

Not a great photo, but Elder Wood and Elder Haney in their trailer in Lone Pine

Two for one: A bird photo, and a view of the snow on the ground in Lone Pine

One more bird photo - we determined that this is a Brewer's Blackbird

Week 21 (Rosamond)

Leading off with the exciting news, transfers are coming up this week, and Elder Wood will be leaving Mojave and the Rosamond ward. His new assignment is in Lone Pine, California, just east of Mount Whitney. Sadly, missionaries aren't allowed to climb Mount Whitney, but hopefully he'll meet some good people there in town. The actual transfers will take place on Tuesday, when all of the missionaries involved will go to the mission office (in Bakersfield), meet up with their new companions, and then head to their new areas. We'll look forward to hearing the report on that next week. For now, we know that his new companion is Elder Haney, and that's about it.

In other news, they got snow in their area this past week (although with the rest of Southern California, it sounds like). He said that it was fun, and there was an appreciable amount, but that it didn't really cause many issues because it melted so quickly and didn't ice up on the roads. I think he enjoyed the different experience, though! It's been colder lately, but it'll be even colder in Lone Pine (but apparently not as windy, so that should help). We told him he's got his timing wrong - you're supposed to be assigned to Lone Pine in the summer, when it's broiling hot in Bakersfield itself. But maybe he'll stay there for long enough to take advantage of the cooler weather. We'll find out.

In missionary work, their finding streak continues, so he was a perfect 18 for 18 during his weeks in Rosamond. It may be harder in Lone Pine, though, with a much smaller population. The current group of friends they're meeting with regularly will take some more time to be ready for baptism, if they choose that, so he'll hand them off to Elder Erickson and his new companion to continue shepherding. He did say that the area will have a baptism relatively soon, since a previous member of the church who left many years ago has chosen to be re-baptized. But again the others will work with him and Elder Wood's adventures will continue in Lone Pine!

We had a fun experience in church this week. Our bishop was speaking and said he wanted to let the ward hear from each of the 5 current missionaries who are from our ward. So he read a short few sentences from each of them - and we realized that we didn't recognize the quote from Elder Wood - apparently the two of them had emailed each other to share his testimony, and they'd kept us in the dark so we could be surprised. What fun! So, to finish up, here is Elder Wood's spiritual thought that he wanted to share with everyone: "I testify that God is a God of efficiency and order. He gives us no teaching, no organization, and no ordinance that isn't absolutely necessary for the salvation of the children of men. God loves each and every one of us and will provide a path for us."

Saying farewell to one of the Rosamond ward members.

Another farewell photo

The latest photo of the district all together

Proud of a photo he drew illustrating the restoration of the gospel

Snow!

Neat light coming through clouds, and a glimpse of some of the many windmills in the area

This one made me laugh. He isn't sure how the dog got on the roof but he had to document that he'd seen it.

Bird photo: He finally got a really nice shot of the blue heron

One more bird photo - a robin who is hopefully heralding the coming of spring

Week 20 (Rosamond)

This week again was not especially unusual, but Elder Wood reports that it was good overall. It's gotten a little warmer there, so he occasionally is able to take his coat off, but there are also cold spells. They also had some days with a lot of wind, apparently hitting up to 40 miles per hour.

The missionary work continues to go well in their area. They found 3 new people to teach this week; I believe his companionship has found at least one person every week of his mission so far. I asked for updates on the people he's talked to me about. There isn't really one on JC, but Luis (the former drug addict) who has decided that he would like to learn a little more about the church and has decided to read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he will enjoy it!

They also had encounters with inactive members of the church. One was very sad; they went to visit someone and it turned out her husband had just died unexpectedly that day. She was obviously very sad, but it sounds like she did appreciate having someone there who was willing to support and listen to her. Another member has just moved to the area;  he was apparently recently baptized, but is now living with his girlfriend. Elder Wood thinks he just didn't get the message that the church really advocates for marriage before living together.

We didn't get any photos, but apparently for their Preparation day today, the district went to a golf course and used the driving range. Elder Wood took some swings, but confirmed that he's definitely not a golf player and prefers miniature golf on the whole.

Quite a few fun photos this week!

Showing how windy it was that day

So windy it knocked the street signs off their pole

Not really a bird photo - someone they visited had these wooden decoys (the unpainted one is apparently from Egypt)

Sticker on a car for the Mojave Desert Beach Club :-)

They tried the new flavor of Pepsi ("Peepsi" he thought it should have been called). He said it was fine - he wouldn't buy it again, but it wasn't horrible.

Bird photo - he spotted a great horned owl (well camouflaged in a tree)

One more bird photo - Canada geese

Week 19 (Rosamond)

Elder Wood reports that the missionary weeks tend to kind of run together, so he didn't have a whole lot to share with us. When we asked him about various items, we learned that the finding continues, so they have been busy with lots of people to contact and talk to, but not a lot of success in inviting people to come to church and see what it's about.

The one exception is their friend JC, who (not surprisingly) was introduced to them by his friend, a member of the ward, and is about ready to choose a date to be baptized. So it's great that he is doing well and continuing to progress in his knowledge and understanding.

Elder Wood has now been in the Rosamond ward for about 4 months, and says that he knows most everyone in it, at least that attends regularly. (There are plenty that don't, which gives them more people to visit!) He doesn't really know what to expect during the next transfers, which are coming up in 2 weeks. He may stay for a 4th transfer, which isn't uncommon, but he may also head elsewhere.

The weather in the Mojave area where they are living and working is getting a little bit warmer as winter winds down. He says that he removed the liner from his coat, and only wears his gloves sometimes!

Spiritual thought for the week: Only by partaking of the Sacrament can we complete the repentance process. This is why it's crucial to go to church each week. Yes, the talks are nice. Yes, you might learn a thing or two in Sunday school. But at the end of the day, our church meetings, just like the rest of the gospel, are focused on one thing. On one person. Our church meetings are about Jesus Christ.

Playing a game of Uno on P-Day, but apparently it's also been joined by the game of Dos!

His missionary district

Playing Kubb on P-day, an outdoor game

Bird photo: A wandering peahen(?) (The fence in the picture doesn't actually enclose anything)

Bird photo #2: A Corvid