August 28, 2017 - Last letter

HI Mom!

Not sure what all to say to you because I see you in like 2 days.

It was kind of weird but I was pretty Ok when I got the call about Grandma. It's sad that I didn't get to see her again but it's ok I think. I don't know about the funeral. It would be nice to go but I'll just talk about it with you when I get home.

Hopefully I don't have to wait too long to get released. 

The dogs better remember me!!!!

So when I get home I am actually really excited to just lie in a room by myself and sleep. Besides that, just all the movies I missed

The boxes are all I need to ship home. I never really accumulated that much.

It's been a journey for sure! Crazy that it's ending. Can't wait to see everyone!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

August 21, 2017

Hello!

I did see the eclipse. It's happening right now and there are people outside the library handing out glasses. It was cool but at the same time I was like meh haha. You don't see anything except the moon. I don't know I guess I don't appreciate nature enough. 

Yeah holy cow 1 more week! I have my exit interview tomorrow. This week is either going to fly by or it's going to drag like crazy. Hopefully the first.  I go to the mission home on Tuesday so the next time I write you I'll probably be super antsy haha. 

Yeah I'll probably go to Institute.

This week was kind of slow. Not much happened. I got the boxes and have 2 packed up. One is full of random stuff and books, and the other is full of my big coats that take up a lot of space. I threw away a bunch clothes too. So I should be able to fit everything in my bags now.

I might go work at Austin's gym when I get home. He says it's pretty nice and you get a free membership.

I think that's it. 

Love you!!!

See you next week!!

Elder Sherwood

August 8, 2017

Hey Mom!

Yeah it's still hot. It's been raining though so it's hot and humid now. I just want to be dry again :(

Did I tell you I served with Sean Bradley's daughter, and Mitt Romney's nephew?

Yeah Steven is getting baptized this Saturday so I'll go back to Escondido to see it.

I probably will ship some stuff back. I don't have a lot so probably 2 boxes tops. I just need to get 2 boxes

I guess we're staying busy. Nothing's really going on at all in this ward. It kind of sucks. I feel like I'm just counting the days at this point. We got to work with this lady who just moved to Utah. I told her I had a 4 hour layover and she says she really wants to come buy me lunch. Do you know what time I'm supposed to get to Salt Lake? Her story is kind of cool. She just joined the church like a month ago. She's was a pretty hardcore victim of spousal abuse and is in the process of going through divorce. I didn't really see her at her low point but she was terrified of all men basically. But the Gospel was able to heal her and realize that all guys aren't scumbags. So it was kind of cool to get to know her. She is super cheesy though. We did a compliment circle on her last day. She went around and said all these nice flowery things about everyone. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to positive reinforcement.

Anyway that's all I got. 

Love you!!

Elder Sherwood

August 2, 2017

Hi

My bike needs a lot of work, so I'm thinking it would be better to just pocket like $150 and buy a new one if I want a bike instead of paying $100+ to ship it then fix it. I'll send you some pictures of it, I think you'll get a kick out of it.

It was a good week. It is hot and we're keeping relatively busy. The heat takes a lot out of you though haha. We're constantly just soaked with sweat, it's pretty annoying actually. Still trying to find investigators and meet all of the ward. 

I feel like these last few letters are going to pretty dull haha. 4 more weeks!!!!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

July 24, 2017

Hey Mom! 

I was good to talk to everyone. I'm glad I got to talk to Grandma. She is a very special lady. A great example for everyone. I thanked President for you.

I can't wait to see everyone again. It's crazy how different 2 years makes you.

Yeah, I got my new ID. It's not a license so I still can't drive. Did you get my birth certificate?

The new area is pretty good. We live three miles outside of our area. The people seem pretty cool though. Some of the members are really obsessed with deep doctrine though. Our Gospel Essentials lesson was on New Jerusalem and when we're all going to go to Missouri. I also had a whole dinner conversation on whether or not Jesus had a body before he came to Earth. Most of the time I'm just like "whoooo carrresssss" We haven't gone on the reservation and I kind of doubt we will. My companion is Elder Barclay. I like him. It's a lot better than last transfer haha. We get a long pretty well and he doesn't do super sketchy things with members haha. We're staying a lot more busy too so that's good.

There's not much else I can think of.

I think I'm going to just sell my bike. I think it's going to cost $150 at least to ship it. My bike needs a lot of work too. So I'll just give it to he office and they'll sell it and send me the money.

5 more weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you!!

Elder Sherwood

July 17, 2017

Hi Mom

Surprise ending! We both got transferred. In our interview I told President that he should probably whitewash the area and I guess he listened. I'm kind of second guessing that decision now though. We have a lot going on and things are turning around., and they're replacing us with this super awkward guy and a greenie. Oh well. God knows what he's doing I guess.. I'm heading back to Temecula to be with Elder Barclay. I'm going to die of heat exhaustion. They released me as District Leader as well. I'm ok with that. I also will get to come to Steven's Baptism. So that's cool. 

I got emails back from my teachers. They say that the College requires them to drop students who don't make it to the 1st week of class. The fire class is all online. So I have to do the 1st week's check in/assignment basically. So I guess I'll just get permission to do that. I'm not really sure how it works though. I'll email Suzanne or something about it. The other teacher said that he can't promise me a spot but I can come in on Week 2 and see if there's still room in the class. HE can't promise me anything though. When do I need to pay tuition by the way? 

So I'm not really sure what else to tell you.

Thanks for all your support.

I'm glad I served a mission. 

Can't wait to see you guys!

Love you!!

Elder Sherwood!

April came to visit our ward

July 10, 2017

HI Mom!

Not sure if I got the birth certificate yet. I'll let you know.

The 4th was pretty fun. They had us stop proselyting at 6:30 so we threw a zone party at the church. We got to see some fireworks too so that was cool. 

Dang Angel's having a rough time. I hope she doesn't die before I get home haha. Seems like a hard dog to put on a diet haha. Dang that sucks. 

This week was pretty good! We set a baptismal date for Steven! So that was super cool. It's for August 12th. If would have gone home early for school I would have gone home on the 11th. So it's like God's present to me for not going home early haha Another non-member came to church for the 2nd time with Sister Perkins who's from my first ward, Carlsbad 4th ward. So we might pick him up as an investigator this week and it was cool to see her again.

I finally got a chance to talk to Brother Edmunds. We're only going over there on Saturday for dinner now. So hopefully that will solve the problem. (and we can actually get some work done)

Would it be alright if I got some spending money? I feel like I'm having to buy a bunch of stuff now. + I have to pay for laundry. just like some gift cards or something.

I'm hopefully going to the DMV tomorrow and getting my ID and then I should be all set to come home, besides shipping my bike home.

I think that's it. I'm doing pretty good!

Love you!!!!

Elder Sherwood

HI Mom!!

Super jealous you guys get to light off fireworks, We go in at 6:30 tomorrow. Well we can go in or go to the church. So the zone is going to throw a 4th of July party at the church tomorrow. Hopefully we can see fireworks from where we are.

I talked to President. I don't know for sure how this transfer's going to go but I think he's going to leave. Elder Pierce is pretty confident he's going to stay. I told President he should just whitewash the area and put 2 new elders in here. We'll see what happens I guess. Another thing we talked about was My Plan. So I have to do that now. 

This week was pretty good. We taught Steven the Chiropractor and he started crying during the lesson so I think he's feeling the Spirit. He also came to all three hours of Church so that was cool. We picked up a potential while we were in between visiting ward members so that was cool. I also performed my first baptismal interview which was an interesting experience. Her name was Amy and we were kind of just joking with each other the whole time. But she passed and she had a really cool conversion experience. She got a priesthood blessing to help her quit smoking and the next time she tried to smoke it made her feel really sick. Now she doesn't have any desire and it's only been like 2 or 3 weeks. So that was awesome. We went on a hike this morning, I forgot my camera but in my defense I didn't get any sleep last night because Elder Pierce was snoring like crazy. The ear plugs don't even work. 

MOM I"M SO TRUNKY holy freak. It's getting pretty bad haha.....

I think that's it

Love you!!!

Elder Sherwood

June 26, 2017

HI Mom!

I'm going to talk to him on Wednesday. I think if Pierce gets transferred it'll be fine. The dad is actually starting to make moves on his own actually. He cut off communication with his daughters and Elder Rudd. It'll work out. 

Yeah it's hard to not count. I just got an email about My Plan, the thing they make finishing missionaries do. I'm practically home already. 

That's cool that Nate is going on Trek! Trek is pretty fun if you have a good group. So if he's with his cousins he'll be fine. They don't work them pretty hard either. You don't walk that long, and it's all flat.

We had a baptism yesterday! Wooooo! I'll get the photos for you. Her name is Sarah. I think I told you about her. She has a less active Step Mom and a non-member Dad. I think they felt the Spirit at the baptism though so that was cool. They had so many people there. She is related to our Mission President's Councilor too and he was there so I got some aspiring points too. Not much else happened this week. We're just trying to meet the ward. It's kind of hard to connect with this ward though because I know I'm leaving in a couple months anyway. There's some cool people here though. There's a fire chief in this ward that I really want to meet. There are also some guys who lived in Colorado Springs. We both knew the Bakers. They were some really cool kids in another ward that we'd see at camps and other stuff. Chris probably knows them. Walker Baker, and his brothers.

I'm trying really hard to lose weight this transfer. It's kind of working. I'm down to 194 from 197-198ish

I'm in the process of getting a California ID so I can get on the plane. I have a DMV appointment on the 3rd. Hopefully I got everything I need. I got some stuff from the Mission office and they said my mission medical card would work as well.

I think that's it.

Love you!!!

Elder Sherwood

June 19, 2017                                                                           

Hey mom!

Getting to your letter early today!

I just missed her haha. I went on exchanges in French Valley when I was in Lake Skinner. That sucks I wish I knew that a year ago!! Escondido is probably the least nice place I've been haha.

I lost the magnet to my nametag. So I'm waiting for a new one. Hopefully it got here this week. 

So I am in Escondido. It is the Mexican part of our mission. Most of the people that I've seen only speak Spanish or broken English. Our ward boundaries are huge. The third largest in the mission. We do have a car but it's only for administrative (DL stuff and p-day) use. We only get 300 miles a month so we can't really use it to proselyte. Despite all that though it hasn't been so bad. We have a baptism this Sunday and we picked up a pretty solid investigator that we are going to teach this Wednesday. The girl getting baptized is Sarah, an 8 year old who lives with a less-active stepmom and a non-member dad. She's a convert baptism because her real mom is a non-member. Neither of her current parents go to church though which is the incredible part. She decided to go on her own and has her grandma pick her up every week and take her. She is such a reserved kid though haha. I think she had a rough childhood because she is very reserved and careful about things. Our apartment isn't as nice as our old one but at least it has air conditioning. Someone also set up a sound system that goes all over the apartment so we get surround sound pretty high quality music playing. This is the first area however that I've had to pay for laundry. And it's flipping nuts too, 6 dollars every time I have to do laundry. I should be ok though. This ward is way better about feeding us though. We have all of this month filled up and next month filled up. On Saturdays we eat lunch and dinner at the Edmonds, who are the people I went to the Safari Park with. They're crazy. The parents are returning to activity and the mom might be a recent convert, and they have four 17-20 year old girls there who are not really religious at all. And some of them have boundary issues..... So we stay there all day Saturday and also go over Monday night for FHE. I kind of feel like it's a little much but my companion is pretty adamant about it. 

That's pretty much everything going on in the area. being a DL is kind of stressful. I struggled through my first DM but they assured me that it went fine for my first time. I have another one tomorrow. I think this one will be better. I also have to keep tabs on all the district and their investigators. I also take numbers at the end of the week. That's about it really. Not very exciting. I don't really enjoy the mantle it puts on me.

We're going to go ice skating today as a district though! That should be fun!

I don't really need anything right now.

Glad to see everyone's doing good. 2 More months!!!!!!

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

June 12, 2017

Hey Mom!

Sorry this is so late. We spent the whole day at the Safari park with this half active half less-active family the missionaries in this ward have been spending a lot of time with. They're names are the Edmonds. I'll hopefully send you a bunch of pictures when I get them. I forgot my camera but this other Elder took a bunch. Sister Edmonds is also going to text you some. 

Sorry for worrying you guys, I think it's going to be fine, I just got to gently push him. and he'll work. As DL I have to set up a district meeting which involves delegating a discussion and a short talk, and coming up with a training, and I do that 4 times in a transfer. Everyone reports their numbers to me as well. I was more worried about the companion and the area, but the area seems to be doing pretty well. I just got to stop complaining. 

We have a baptism on the 25th, this 8 year old named Sarah who's had a pretty intense childhood and is very mature for her age. We're also picking up a pretty solid investigator on Wednesday. 

So we went to Vista and I found my phone charger sitting in a box. so I'm good.

I gotta make this one kind of short sorry. 

Love you!!

Elder Sherwood

Text from someone in the ward:

The cat doesn't want him to leave.

June 5, 2017

Hey Mom!

So surprise ending. I'm leaving and Adams is staying. I'm going to Bear Valley Escondido. I'm going to be with Elder Pierce. Double Surprise, they called me as a District Leader. So the Bear Valley thing is interesting because I got called there for my second area. But 2 hours later they reassigned me to Lake Skinner Temecula. So now I'm going back. God really wants me there I guess. I have pretty mixed feelings about my DL call, as well as my companion. I heard that he's pretty lazy and I'm going to have to push him pretty hard to go work. Oh well. I've decided to just accept it all and do my best. 

So this week was kind of slow. One day we spent most of the day in Vista for my new leadership training meeting. We also went on exchanges on Saturday, which was cool. We painted this fence for this guy who is pretty into Jiu Jitsu as well as his son. We also gave his wife a blessing which was cool because they're non-members. We finally reconnected with Sean Brazwell a less-active we've been working with. Other than that nothing much happened. There was a point in one of the days where I actually took a nap under a tree for a solid 20 minutes.

Other than all that I'll just ask for your prayers. I'm kind of struggling with this transfer. 

Love you!!!

Elder Sherwood

 

 

May 30, 2017

Hey Mom!

Mormon Battalion was cool. We went to a place called Tequila Factory. Got super drunk. Jk it was a Mexican buffet and it was pretty good. The actual Mormon Battalion place was cool. I was expecting like a museum but it's more of a documentary tour if that makes sense. So in the waiting room there's these picture frames with people who look like they were in the Mormon Battalion but they're screens. So when they start the tour, one of the picture frames sneezes or something and then they all start talking and telling you their story. Then you go to like 3 or four different rooms that represent periods of the Mormon Battalion and watch this video about it. I was taking pictures but then I realized that I didn't have my SD card in the camera. So I only got like 3 pictures. But I got forwarded some other ones that you saw. It was cool I saw a lot of the missionaries I've made friends with there. The guy that's putting the vest on me, he's Elder Philips and he's like one of my favorite people. Elder Talbot my last companion was there too. It was fun! A much needed break from the heat.

I forgot my camera in the car I'll go get it in a second. 

Transfers are next week, and I could very well get shipped out it turns out. So the mission is losing like 16 missionaries and only gaining 2. So we have to consolidate 7 areas. Plus the stake I'm is rearranging boundaries and dropping from 8 wards to 6, with Los Alamos on the chopping block. We're getting combined with the Alta Murietta ward, which is the Zone Leader ward, so I'm kind of pretty sure that we're gone. Who knows I might be wrong though. We'll see on Saturday. 

That's rough. We wake up at 6 if that makes you feel better and Elder Adams talks in his sleep. So he wakes me up with that sometimes haha. This one time he like abruptly sat up and I kind of woke up and he says "There's a whiteboard on the other side of the building and I need to put my magnets on it" then he falls back down. That was weird. I still make fun of him for it. 

So yesterday was pretty sweet. We picked up like 2 potentially interested people and a new investigator. We also got to hang out at this BBQ for awhile. Then we gave this less-active guy about my age a blessing and kind of reinvigorated his desire to get right with God. So that was really cool. This week is going to fly by we have a lot going on. And then I'm going to leave haha >___< The biggest thing I remember from last week was Mormon Battalion, the rest seemed kind of routine. We took a hike this morning that I'm waiting for forwarded pictures from. It was super foggy though so not extremely scenic. 

I'm probably going to try and re-register for college today now that I have my Soc. So I'll let you know how that goes.

That' all I can think of. 

Love you!!!!!!!!

New pictures!! Even though Justin isn't in the first two.