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. 

May 22, 2017

Hey Mom!

Got freaking heat this week, It sucked! I miss the snow!

I got strep throat this week so I'm on antibiotics. So that's fun. We had a pretty good meeting with Isaiah, our investigator, this week, He committed to read the Book of Mormon every week and asked us to bug him about it. He recently got a new job so that kind of complicated things.

I get to go to the Mormon Battalion visitor center tomorrow with all the other people that go home with me and haven't been yet. That'll be interesting, and we get free lunch at this cool restaurant that overlooks the beach. So I get to get out of the heat wooo!!!

We also have a meeting on Thursday so this week is going to fly by. Then it's week 6, then it's transfers. Pretty crazy. They have to shut down 7 areas which means I might get kicked out of this area as well. I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll actually get 5 areas instead of 4.

So that's all that's going on right now. We're still trying to meet with chinchilla lady with no luck. But we'll keep trying.

Love you!!!! 

Elder Sherwood

May 8, 2017

 

Hi Mom!

Ugghhhh I can't wait to binge watch those movies haha

We did have a baptism on Saturday. It was an 8 year old who is part of a less active family we've been working with. We also had Albert get baptized on Sunday. The 8 year old Foster kid we've been working with. Albert probably would have gotten baptized no matter what but both of the baptisms were really cool to see. We also have a lot going on this week. Did I tell you about the lady we're going to teach who has 8 dogs and 27 Chinchillas? That'll be pretty interesting. Yeah we do have a lot going on in this area. It's still kind of tough though because it's a commuter town and nobody's home during the day. And our area's microscopic. But yeah still probably the most work I've had in any of my areas.We have a FedEx decently close so I can probably ship it home pretty easily. 

I think that's it.

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

May 1, 2017

Hi Mom!

Things are going well! The months seem to be crawling by honestly. Well in the moment it seems like it's crawling. Like right now I'm like Uhhhhggg it's only week 2.. But at the end of last transfer I was like huh that went by pretty fast. It's probably because we're walking everywhere. But yeah like I've never felt being ready to go home as much as I have in this area. Not anything to worry about, just regular end of mission trunkyness probably. I just want to watch a movie!!!!! haha...

I don't know maybe I'll try and sell my bike or something haha. I'll look around for a FedEx though. 

P-Day was on Tuesday lasst week because President was going to some training out of the city on Thursday. Not sure why we had switch around transfer day and P-day for that but it happened. So transfer day was Monday and P-day tuesday. 

There's a good chance I'll stay here yeah.. I hope I get another area though haha. This place is just so small. It would be nice to be able to focus on things like "My Plan" and figure out all my school and work plans without having to run an area at the same time. It's also going to get really hot here......

Yeah we go to WinCo for our groceries and their produce section is garbage and their milk isn't too great either. 

The work is pretty good! We are going to baptize Albert this Saturday so that's exciting. We also have an appointment with a potential on Saturday as well. We also started working with these 2 less acrives. One is Sean Pozos who is a really smart YSA aged guy who is a tutor at a middle school. He kind of seems like he might have a little autism. But he gets it and we're going to hopefully read with him twice a week and get him to church. The other is Anita Pina who is a nice lady who got kicked out of YSA when she hit 31. She hasn't gone to church in a while though. I think she just needs a ride. So we're going to introduce her to some members who live by her and hopefully she can go with them. That's all of the exciting things going on right now. We're still trying to follow up with some people as well. We also still need to find somewhere to skype for Mother's day.I got you a card by the way hopefully it gets there in time. 

Anything else? I think that's it. I'll be here for a little bit still.

Love you!

April 25, 2017

Hey Mom! 

Sorry I forgot to tell you today is P-day.

It was warm last week. 90+ a couple days. It's cooled down now and is supposed to be pretty nice for a little bit. In a couple months it's going to get pretty ridiculous. The summer suucks up here. I miss the snow haha.

The work is good. We finally got a lesson in with this kid named Isaiah, a senior in high school who is dating a laurel in our ward. I don't know when we're going to get to meet with him again. We also got to do a FHE with a family named the VanCleave's who are less active but want to baptize their 8 year old. We are also probably going to baptize this foster kid named Albert either this week or next week. This guy named Kevin walked into Church on Sunday too and wanted to sit in on the service and also talk to the bishop about doing a bunch of service because he got into an accident and the court ordered him like 290 service hours before December. So we showed him the Just Serve app and Bishop is going to follow up with him today. Not a lot else happened. It was transfer week this week too. 3 more to go! I really hope I don't go home from here though haha. It's going to get so hot :(

The ward's doing ok with feeding us. This week is going to be rough because the Young Women's president didn't pass the calandar around to her teachers on accident. But we'll live. We also get payed next week.I'm cooking rice and chicken. I don't trust the WinCo produce so I haven't been buying as much healthy stuff.

I think that's it. maybe I'll come up with another Amazon pantry thing for my b-day

I'll figure it all out by next week. 

Love you!

Elder Sherwood

April 17, 2017

Hi Mom! Happy Easter!

For Easter we had Stake Conference and it was a special Christ centered spiritual Conference that people were supposed to invite non-members to. I don't think too many non-members came though haha. After that we went to big Easter lunch with a family named the Dockendorfs. Really cool family super nice. 3 other families came as well. We didn't have a dinner. We went to an Easter Cantata at around 6 that night, and that was pretty much how Easter went.

The work is going really well actually! We picked up 3 new investigators. A lady who is the friend of our Bishop and a couple who is probably 50 or so. We found the couple by tracting around a members house which we decided to do because we were early for an appointment. The friend we met at a dinner with our Bishop's wife and after we left she pulled up and asked if we needed a ride and we accepted. When she dropped us off I just asked her if she'd be willing to meet with missionaries and she agreed. We 're meeting with her on Tuesday. We were able to share the Restoration with the couple on Saturday. We still need to schedule another appointment with them. James, the guy struggling with addiction said he wants to read more of the BoM before he meets with us again. That sounds like Satan to me but who knows. Other than that we're still working with Albert, a foster child. We're waiting to see if he needs Parental permission or not. Plus there's just a lot of possible bad outcomes that could occur with baptizing a Foster child.

So that's what's happening! 

Love you!!

Elder Sherwood

H Mom!

We managed to find some dinners this week, Our ward is microscopic. Probably part of the reason. Yeah we'll probably have to eat on our own a bit. I haven't in awhile but I want to start again.

When you put it like that a semester break sounds really nice haha. I;m still not sure and I don't think I could talk to a counselor. I don't remember what I need either. 

Yeah I've come to accept that aches and pains are a staple of life. I feel pretty good though. I'm really just trying to lose this belly fat. Nothing's really working though so I think it's just that I don't have the time right now to do the things that it takes. I've stayed at 193ish pretty much my whole mission. 

Yeah the Holy Ghost is super cool. Especially this transfer for some reason I've gotten so many promptings that have led to either potential investigators or being able to help someone. On Tuesday we picked up a new investigator because in planning I felt like we should go to the Coopers. We picked up James there who is having some pretty bad addiction problems. We gave him a blessing and since Tuesday things seem to be falling into place. He is in the process of getting insurance and is also is starting with an addiction counselor. We also had a really good 1st lesson with him on Saturday. He seemed to really understand the need for a Restoration and recognized how the timing of us finding him was a miracle. He commited to read the Book of Mormon. He didn't go to church though unfortunately. We are also working with an 8 year old foster kid who has a potential baptismal date for the 22nd of this month. We are probably going to have to get permission from his Mom though even though he's a foster child. We're also working with another 8 year old named Jaylene who might be a convert baptism but we're not sure. She's in the custody of her Grandma who is a less active lady who has been recently coming to church. They're all pretty quiet except for the great Grandma Toga who is pretty loud, mainly because she's deaf. She's hilarious though. We scheduled an appointment with a lady named Amanda Myrick, who we've been trying to meet with for awhile, on Tuesday. Hopefully that will stick. After we set that up we found this kid who told us his Mom was looking for a church. We told him about what we do and gave him a pamphlet so maybe that will materialize into something. 

That's pretty much all the cool stuff that happened this week. Last P-day we went to the batting cages at a place called Mulligans. That was kind of fun and different. 

I think that's it though!

Love you! 

Elder Sherwood