Week 104 (Brimhall)

With General Conference coming up next weekend, Elder Wood has now attended his last church meetings as a missionary. Such a strange thought! They had a good Sunday, since their friend Ryder was baptized! They were happy to get to attend and see him make covenants with the Lord. Although the event wasn't without minor hiccups - the missionaries were responsible for printing the programs for the baptism, and as soon as they had done that they got a text requesting a change to them (and they also noticed a typo) so they had to print them again. They were pleased that the turnout was great - there were probably 60 or more people in attendance.

There was no real update this week on any of their other friends beyond Ryder. They unfortunately had some cancellations and ended up with no real appointments. But they still did their best to work to find contacts and meet with people. One weekend day they went from having no meal appointments to having both lunch and dinner, which they much appreciated.

This week they had interviews with the mission president, and Elder Wood thinks it's likely that the Brimhall area will be "pinkwashed". That means that both of the current elders will leave, and the two new missionaries will be sisters. Elder Wood says they will probably be ASL missionaries, and also that there are some single and younger women that the elders have a hard time teaching that sister missionaries could connect well with. Of course, Elder Wood knows his plans this next transfer - he'll be coming home! He's looking forward to his outgoing temple trip, which will be coming up this Thursday. He isn't positive, but believes they'll get to visit the Los Angeles temple. There is 1 sister missionary and 8 elders who are going home this transfer, so they'll all get to enjoy the temple trip together.

Only one more missionary phone call, next Monday, for us to look forward to!

District meeting this week

I looked and looked for a bird in this picture, but it turns out it's just a house Elder Wood thought I'd like (which I do! it's a nice shade of green)

Birds on some electrical wires

A robin (?) on a lawn

Week 103 (Brimhall)

The best news of the week is that Elder Wood remained healthy and is completely recovered from being sick last week. It's nice to know he's feeling better!

This week the missionaries are looking forward to Ryder's baptism on Sunday. Ryder is 9 or 10 and should have gotten baptized when he was 8, but Elder Wood has enjoyed the chance to get to know him and talk to him.

Not a lot of other news related to their friends; Denise had to cancel their appointment this week, and the two brothers they'd talked to a little they need to track down again and try to get an appointment. But Elder Wood was happy that Robin, a recently baptized member, was at church this week. She was apparently baptized just a little while before Elder Wood was transferred to the ward, so the missionaries are happy to see her making progress. She was also able to go to dinner with them at a ward member's home so they could talk to her a little more.

I asked Elder Wood about meals with ward members, and he said they do get dinner most weekends, which he much appreciates. He laughed a little telling me they recently had the shortest dinner appointment of his whole mission. The member family wasn't very talkative, and they ate, shared a short message, and were out the door in about 30 minutes. Hopefully in the future Elder Wood will be talkative when he hosts missionaries at his house for dinner!

Their district at district council meeting

A bird photo - he said this was the first raven he'd seen in a while

Another bird photo - he said it's amazing how many more birds you see when you actually leave the house

Week 102 (Brimhall)

A bit of a short update this week, with few pictures, since poor Elder Wood ended up being sick almost all week. He says it was two different things - first a headache/sore throat illness, and then halfway through the week, his symptoms changed and he was positive for Covid. Thankfully, he's feeling much better now and looking forward to a more active week to come.

They did get a chance to meet with their new friend, Denise, on Monday before he started feeling sick. He says she asked great questions and looks forward to meeting with them again. They had to cancel their appointment with the teenaged brothers that they met recently, but hope to meet with them again soon. And, on an exciting note, their friend Ryder has set a baptismal date and plans to be baptized in a couple weeks on September 29. Elder Wood was happy he'll still be in Brimhall to attend.

Elder Wood and Elder Culbertson were able to do some service recently for some older people in the ward. They swept a driveway (apparently Bakersfield driveways get very dirty), watered plants, and also reset a tripped GFCI located in an awkward place that the couple couldn't reach. Serving others is great!

One photo this week of their combined district council meeting (ie everyone in their zone). This is the newly created Bakersfield West Zone. Sadly, no bird photos this week since Elder Wood said most of it was spent in their apartment staring at the walls while he was sick.

Combined District Council

Week 101 (Brimhall)

Elder Wood and Elder Culbertson are no longer in the California Bakersfield Zone. They are still in Brimhall, but with the organization of a new stake, the zone has followed suit and now they are part of the California Bakersfield West Zone. Such a difference! Actually, the main one is that Elder Wood is a little sad that the bishop of the Brimhall Ward is now a member of the new Stake Presidency, and thus a new bishop will need to be called. Elder Wood really liked working with this bishop, so he'll miss him.

The claim to fame this week is that the missionaries visited 5 different chapels, including all 3 Bakersfield stake centers, this week. It sounds like there were various reasons, including the Stake conference that reorganized the stake, zone conference, mission president interviews, and so on. But he was pretty tickled that they visited so many different buildings. As part of this week's zone conference, Elder Wood shared his farewell testimony; apparently that's a tradition for missionaries in their last transfer before going home. It's hard to believe he has 0 more zone conferences in the mission!

Missionary work is moving along this week. They met 2 teenaged brothers who are interested in their message, or at least claim to be, and look forward to meeting with them again. They also had an appointment scheduled this evening with Denise, someone they found while knocking doors. She had been out of town since they first met her, so Elder Wood was excited to get to have a lesson with her.

Elder Wood found his street!

Zone Conference (combined with all Bakersfield zones). Elder Wood is top row, 10th from the left

Candid lunch photo from Zone Conference

A combined district conference; I think this is basically their zone.

Bird photo #1: A nice view of this hawk

Bird photo #2: Lots of hummingbirds at the feeder

Week 100 (Brimhall)

A bit of a catchup after missing last week while I was out of town, but according to Elder Wood not a lot has changed, and it's been hot so he hasn't seen many birds. We've reached triple digits - week #100! This week was also the last transfer of Elder Wood's mission. He is still in the Brimhall area, but since his previous companion, Elder Smith, finished his mission and returned home, he has a new companion, Elder Culbertson.

Last week there was a leadership conference, and the missionaries all got to meet together with an apostle, Elder Gary E. Stevenson. Elder Wood says it was a wonderful and inspirational meeting. Then, this coming week apparently the Bakersfield stakes are being reorganized, so they will have another church leader come to help with that, although he wasn't sure who yet.

In terms of mission news, they've enjoyed having Karen (the recently baptized new member) coming to church, and they've had a few other visitors as well. One member of the ward brought a friend that is interested in talking to the missionaries. They've also continued to meet with Ryder, the boy who is interested in being baptized, and think he may actually choose a baptism date soon (after confirming when his grandparents will be in town).

That's about all the news I got this week, since we were out of the country and I wasn't taking notes. But for the rest of the mission I'll be more timely and up to date!

Elder Smith, Elder Wood, and a family in the Brimhall Ward

The entire mission together at the leadership meetings with Elder Stevenson. (Elder Wood is second row from the top, third from the left.)

A bird on a roof

A bird in the sky

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!