Week 77 (Kern Valley)

Elder Wood and his companions continued to get to know there area and the people in it this week. He says that they've found a couple new people to teach. One is a single woman, although there is a bit of confusion because her daughter lives with her and has the same name, but isn't interested in meeting with them. Eventually they realized it was the mother who had reached out to them via text, not the daughter! They are also hoping that they'll be able to start teaching a family that they found soon.

He shared a nice moment from the week, when they knocked on someone's door and asked whether they could share a quick scripture with her. They shared John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." She told them that she appreciated their message and that it "made her day" - always a nice thing to do!

For their Preparation Day today they drove the hour or so to Tehachapi, where they met with the rest of the district for an activity. It sounds like they played some games at the church, including chair soccer. Elder Wood got hit with the soccer ball and said he broke his glasses but fixed them (I think an arm was bent out of shape?) Otherwise no injuries. Their current district consists of 10 missionaries: One companionship with two sister missionaries, and then 3 that have elders, but two of those (including the Kern Valley one) have trios. When I talked to him they were driving and eventually arrived at a member's house where one of his companions was going to get a haircut.

I spent a minute asking about their plans for Easter, which turns out to be not much at this point. But they do have an invitation for dinner, so they'll get to enjoy a nice Easter dinner. Church will only be an hour that day, and hopefully will be a wonderful service. This week was also Zone Conference, meaning some nice pictures from the kind mission leaders, although I didn't remember to ask for any details.

Their table at Zone Conference

Everyone at Zone Conference - Elder Wood is on the far left, second one in

A nice view of Lake Isabella

Bird photo #1: Do you see the woodpecker?

Bird photo #2: A blue bird

One more wildlife photo - they saw some deer near the lake

A fancy stretch Hummer that they spotted

Week 76 (Kern Valley)

Welcome to the Kern Valley Ward! Or at least, Elder Wood was welcomed there this past week. I had to look up where it is, but basically the ward surrounds Lake Isabella, about an hour northeast of Bakersfield. There is also a Kern Valley Airport north of the lake, but the church building, their apartment, and where people live seems to be mainly south of the lake. Also, the lake attracts birds, which is of course a plus.

Elder Wood reports that not a lot happened during the beginning of the week, as he finished up his time in Bakersfield this transfer. A couple appointments that they had apparently fell through. Then, on Thursday everyone meets in Bakersfield for transfers. Elder Wood is now in a trio, so there are 3 missionaries in their companionship. It sounds like both of the other two, Elder Allen and Elder Eggbert, were in the area previously with a different third companion. And they do have a car, which he appreciates, although he's currently neither the driver nor the copilot, so he says he is just useless in the back seat.

He says that the ward itself was a little bigger than he expected. It's not large, but they actually have a Primary! With I think he said six kids in it. He's still meeting people and getting used to the area, but he said they were able to do a lot of service, including some work at a food bank. He also told me about the greenhouse that they helped a member of the ward build. It was interesting to hear about it from him and then, a few hours later, got a text from that member who shared photos of the greenhouse and the missionaries. That was fun! She also mentioned that Elder Wood was the one who read and figured out the directions, which were very hard to understand - sounds like him!

There is a grocery store there in the area, but it's pretty small, so apparently they are able to go back down to Bakersfield every week or two to stock up at Walmart. I look forward to hearing more about how the area works and how the teaching is going there next week, after he gets his bearings a little more.

Elder Wood, Elder Eggbert, and Elder Allen

Working on the greenhouse

More greenhouse pictures

The elders in front of the finished greenhouse

Bird photo: Seagulls!

Another bird photo: A robin

Week 75 (Bakersfield 2nd)

Elder Wood had a great week this week! From a blogging perspective, I was happy that there were lots of pictures to choose from. But more importantly, from a missionary perspective, they had some really great experiences. This will likely be Elder Wood's final few days in this area (transfers are coming up on Thursday, and they know his current companion will be training someone new, likely in Bakersfield 2nd) so he's happy to head out with some great memories.

On Thursday they had a temple trip - they get to visit a temple about every 6 months, since there is none in their actual mission. Last time he was in the southern-most parts of the mission and went to the Los Angeles temple. Now, since he's more north, he got to experience the Fresno temple. He said it was great; a lot smaller than Los Angeles, but pretty. And there's TC, the Temple Cat, that he thought was quite cool. He doesn't know the full story, but it actually has a collar and air tags that say it belongs there, and it's often quite friendly. He also said their temple session was a wonderful experience, so he's glad that he was able to be there.

In their next bit of exciting news, their 9-year-old friend AJ was baptized this week! They've been working with her for several months, so it was wonderful for her to be ready and for them to be there to support her. He was happy to have that experience. We also commented on how this was the second baptism in one of his area; the other being CJ back in Lone Pine, and why are all of the people that get baptized females that go by a two letter abbreviation ending in J? Who knows! But kind of a fun coincidence.

Final fun news was that their friend Isaiah, who has been more interested in a factual/curious sort of way, agreed to go to a baptism with them. He wasn't able to attend AJ's, but there was a baptism in a nearby Young Single Adult ward that Elder Wood and Elder Karren attended with Isaiah, and they said it seemed to be a really good experience for him. They have an appointment scheduled with him tomorrow and are looking forward to hearing more about how he felt about it.

That was about all the news, other than dealing with a little bit of rain while they were biking. So I'm sure he'll be happy to be transferred somewhere that almost certainly will be in a car again (the mission has few bike areas). We'll find out where next week!

Elder Wood at the Fresno Temple

The group of missionaries visiting the Fresno Temple

A pretty shot of the entire temple and grounds

TC, the Temple Cat, who apparently was not feeling super photogenic that day

A close-up of TC's collar and ID tag

Bird photo #1: Apparently this is a Muscovy Duck. It's a bit ugly :-)

Bird photo #2: A blue jay of some sort

Week 74 (Bakersfield 2nd)

The exciting news this week is that your friendly neighborhood missionaries of the Bakersfield 2nd ward now have bike lights! Which means they don't have to be home before twilight. It sounds like the week was a moderately productive one, although Elder Wood was still a bit frustrated that a bike takes longer than a car.. They were able to have a good lesson with their friend Isaiah, who continues to ask questions. They think he may be asking more out of curiosity than actually wanting to learn from the Spirit, but they're hoping they can encourage him to come at things from a more faithful perspective.

They are also getting closer to having AJ ready for baptism - she's the 9-year-old girl whose family are mostly members already. She just needs to come to church a little more, but various family members keep getting sick. And they had a fair number of media referrals that came through this week - a nice product of them covering the geographical center of Bakersfield.

The Bakersfield 2nd ward had Stake Conference this week, which was a nice chance to hear from their Mission President and the leaders of the stake. Unfortunately it makes inviting friends a little tricky, since both the place and time are different than a normal Sunday. But they hope to have someone come next week!

In other exciting news, their district gets to do their temple trip this next week (I think they go every 6 months?) And they're going to the Fresno Temple, which he hasn't seen before, so he's looking forward to the opportunity. We were also talking about some of the tourism highlights of Bakersfield proper (he claims there aren't many) and he said that he does highly recommend the Creamistry ice cream parlor, which uses liquid nitrogen to get it frozen nice and quickly.

For photos this week I only had a bunch of birds to select from, so enjoy a few highlights!

Bird photo #1: A dove/pigeon

Bird photo #2: A nice photo of a soaring hawk

Bird photo #3: A bird I wasn't able to recognize

Week 73 (Bakersfield 2nd)

The major updates this week seem to be on the vagaries of transportation. Elder Wood and Elder Karren were on foot at the start of the week, but now have replacement bicycles. Unfortunately, the new bikes have "even more problems than the last ones". I think Elder Wood is mechanically minded enough that he cares about things that I wouldn't even notice, like the condition of the pedals and derailleurs. But apparently also the handlebars are fixed in a position that's too low, and the seat is uncomfortable, so that's been hard for him. And in a final blow, they aren't able to find any rechargeable lights, so they aren't able to ride at night.

Thus, for the week they spend a lot of time walking, a little time riding, and didn't get the chance to have too many appointments. It felt like a slow week, but hopefully things will improve soon! If nothing else, I told him he's learning to cope with opposition.

They did spend some time this week online cleaning up addresses for referrals that they received. Apparently often it's pretty obvious to figure out what the correct address should be for one that reports invalid (maybe it just needs a space between words or something). And for one, that was on California Street, but with a number that doesn't exist in Bakersfield, no city noted, and a Pennsylvania phone number, he was able to forward the referral on to missionaries in Pennsylvania instead that will hopefully be able to locate the address.

I got to hear a couple stories, including their quest to find an available pickleball court for their activity today. Apparently pickleball is truly popular everywhere, including with missionaries! And his photo of a hawk sitting on a light pole was after they were sitting in a local park enjoying some companion study, when all of a sudden a squirrel pops up and chirps to warn others, and suddenly a hawk swooped down! It didn't get any squirrels that time, and landed on the light post, when he took his nice photo.

A fun Easter display at their local Wal-Mart

An interesting tree. He says it looks like a mushroom, I voted for a spear of broccoli

Bird photo #1: The hawk on the light post

Bird photo #2: A posing parrot

Bird photo #3: A bird that found itself a snack

Week 72 (Bakersfield 2nd)

Pity your poor elders of the Bakersfield 2nd area, who are back on foot again. Elder Wood says it is not his fault, because when their bikes were stolen, he was out of the area on exchanges with another missionary. This was on Thursday evening, and his companion and the exchanging missionary had left them locked to a sign post. But apparently the thieves lifted the bikes and the lock up and over the top of the sign, leaving only a lone unwanted bike helmet attached to the post. It sounds like they will probably be sent new bikes sometime soon, but for now they just keep walking everywhere.

Thanks in decent part to the walking, not a lot happened this week. Church was nice, and they talked to some of their friends, but no major progress. Lupe continues to improve healthwise, and they've talked to her on the phone, but they would love to see her at church sometime - it sounds like she isn't quite ready yet.

They were able to get some errands done today, their Preparation Day, since the other missionaries in their district gave them a ride. They went to the dry cleaner to get a suit and some ties cleaned. They got some groceries. And they had an activity with the district, which was some indoor games including spike ball, gator ball (I don't quite understand what that one is), and the tabletop game Secret Combinations. And that is about all the happenings for the week!

The district during last week's outdoor activity

This poor tree was hit by a car. Elder Wood thought it was nice that someone had put a band-aid on it to help it heal, but "it doesn't look quite big enough"

Bird photo #1: A robin

Bird photo #2: Maybe a hawk

Bird photo #3: "Where else but Bakersfield can you find parrots in the wild?"

Week 71 (Bakersfield 2nd)

Another two-week jump, which catches us up to this past week. There were transfers two weeks ago (during week 70 of the mission), and as expected, Elder Wood stayed in Bakersfield 2nd with a new companion. Elder Petersen ended up being transferred to Plum Canyon, the area that Elder Wood left a few months ago! Elder Wood's new companion is Elder Karren, who hails from Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Their friend Lupe is home from the hospital, which is great news! They were able to visit with her a week or so ago and share a scripture. She's doing okay healthwise, but hasn't been able to make it back to church yet. Hopefully sometime soon. Their other friend Isiah continues to meet with them and ask good questions. They've had great lessons, and are hoping he will get a chance to attend church soon, but thus far his work schedule has conflicted.

This week in general was a good one for appointments and lessons, so Elder Wood felt that they were pretty productive, even given that being a bike area slows them down a little bit since it takes longer to get everywhere. During their Preparation Day activities, they've mostly been indoors for the past few months, but this week were able to play Ultimate Frisbee outdoors. It apparently went well, although the grass was a bit wet and slippery (due to sprinklers or dew, it hasn't really rained there much).

More photos of people than of birds this week, which is nice and unusual! It helps that the Mission President and his wife post photos on a Facebook group that let us look for our elders and enjoy finding them in the group photos!

A photo of the elders during transfers. Elder Wood is the "tall" one right in the center; he said another missionary decided to lift him up for the picture.

The Zone Conference held this past week

Lunch at Zone Conference. Elder Wood had just taken a bite of his ice cream bar.

New district photo. Elder Wood's new companion, Elder Karren, is in the middle with a blue suit and reddish hair 

Bird photo #1 - Ducks

Bird photo #2 - A white pigeon, maybe?