Brad's Boise Blog

The Little Town That Could

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty awesome. Once again I don't have my planner so the events will all be out of order. But who cares. haha.

On Thursday we picked up a really good investigator. He is like, 17 and really interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. What it is, what's in it, why we have it, all that good stuff. We had a really good lesson about it and he wanted us to come back and talk more. Way cool.

Friday we had interviews. I wore my brown pinstripe suit (my mom's favorite - I refer to it as the hideous brown suit) and President Yardley said I looked like Robert Redford in the Sting. Best compliment I've ever been given. haha. (There will be no living with him now). He old me I'm staying and gave me some possibilities on who my next comp. would be. They were only maybe's, but if it were true, it would be SOOOO awesome! haha. So we'll wait till next week to find out. Well, I guess this week. Probably today!

Anyways. Saturday we went to Murtaugh. Now, I took two pictures of the Murtaugh sign on both sides. You'll notice BOTH sides say "Welcome To Murtaugh". Well that's because that's how big the town is. haha. It is very very small. But we did meet a really nice family who wanted us to teach their kids and baptize them. Score! haha. That doesn't happen too often.

Sunday we met with another new investigator. We taught him the 1st lesson and he really wants to learn more. He's interested in coming to church too. Sweet! Right after that, I had the opportunity to speak at a Priesthood Preview meeting. It was really cool. I didn't prepare anything at all, so it was pretty cool to be led by the Spirit in what to say. At least I hope it was the Spirit. haha. I know I said something about BSU and that's pretty close to carnal sin to talk bad about BSU. I saw a man get the death sentence for talking bad about them. haha.

That's all the big points of this week. It has been awesome and we are so thankful for the Lord's blessings. Especially Thanksgiving. Hooray turkey! haha.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love -Elder Woods

I asked Brad what he was going to do for Thanksgiving - his answer: Thanksgiving we can't do much. Just eat a lot. Which is what we do
everyday. "Here in the Idaho Boise Mission, you don't eat when your
hungry, you eat when your fed" haha.

Special 18 Month Mark Edition

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Hey!

How is everyone?

So welcome to the special 18 month mark edition. A year and a half ago I began this amazing journey. It's flown by so fast, but luckily I still have a good amount of time to get some work done. You'd think that doing the same thing day in day out every single day for a year and a half would get boring, but everyday is amazing. It has become the only thing I know. Missionary work. It's awesome.

So......
to commemorate this occasion (as most Elders do) I burned a pair of pants. (well, just one pant for those who want to be correct with English. haha). I've burnt a tie and a shirt, and they went fine. But the burning pants created the WORST smell ever! It like soaked into the suit I was wearing and now can't wear it until I get it dry cleaned. (I hope it was the hideous brown suit) haha. It was horrible. But they lit up and burnt fast. We did it at the Gardners and they doused it in gas so it only took a few seconds for that thing to become ash. haha. It was pretty awesome.

Other than that, this week has been pretty swell. We picked up some new investigators and were able to do some service setting up Christmas stuff. (It really made me think of my mom when we were setting up a tree and Christmas music was playing.) But it was fun. It also made me realize how close Christmas really is. haha. Sweet.

So I threw on some random pics. One of Chain driving the crazy car. I don't know if it made it on the blog ever. At district meeting, Chain and I dressed up because we didn't last week. It was pretty fun. haha. and a few of the District Meeting last week. Which was hilarious.

Coming up this week is interviews. We're pretty excited. Thanksgiving weekend
should be pretty wild, but I'll talk about that when we get to it. haha.

Well, I hope all is well for you.

I love you all!

-Elder Woods

Another Elder Woods in Boise!!! Steve and I flew up to Boise on Sunday to hear our former neighbor Devin Larson speak in church. He is heading to Mexico and will be a fantastic missionary. Brad is 130 miles away in Twin Falls, so no, we did not go and see him but we did enjoy seeing some of the area Brad has yet to serve in. It is COLD there.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot.

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:17:00 +0000

A Big Thanks to Richard Simmon's Mom (Diane) For Sending Me This Awesome Picture

Elder Brace stylin' a perfect Brad

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty awesome. Zone Conference was on Wednesday and I ended up watching Bolt. It was better than I thought it was going to be. But due to my lack of movie watching over the past year and a half I think I could have enjoyed watching a Micheal Moore film. Ok, that's a lie, but you get the point. haha. At Zone Conference, we talked about car safety since 3 cars have been totaled. One was in Burley and sat in the parking lot. They could still drive it (somehow), but it was gone. The passenger side was smashed in and was missing the fender. It was destroyed.

I mention this car because it needed a place to stay until the insurance people came to look at it. It also needed someone to drive it to said location. That, was us. Elder Chain drove the beat up jalopy :) and I drove our car.(yeah,it was weird. For 3 minutes I was alone.). Anyways, I was driving behind Chain, when all of a sudden, the hood on Chains car decides to fly up like on Tommy Boy. Instead of slamming on the brakes and skidding like most panicked people would, Chain instantly puts his head out the window to continue driving like on Ace Ventura. haha, It was soooo funny. I managed to snag a pic, but don't have my camera on me so I'll try to put it on later. haha.

Anyways, since our missionaries didn't really get to dress up on Halloween, we thought we'd give them the chance on Guy Fawkes day (Nov 5) during District Meeting. Well the Twin Falls District didn't dress up, but the next day, the Jerome District totally did. Elder Naylor dressed up as Richard Simmons, Elder Smith dressed up like Flava-flave, and the best costume, Elder Brace dressed up like...ME!!! haha. It was pretty funny. The best part was the Coheed and Cambria Belt buckle he made. haha. It was way funny.

After District Meeting, I went on exchanges with Elder Naylor. It reminded me of being back in Caldwell. Except with a lot more farmland. haha. We had a great time and saw some miracles.

Other than that, this past week has flown by. Work is going good. We're hitting it hard cause its a little slow, but that's ok.

Hope you're all doing great.

Stay tuned for next weeks very special

18 month mark celebration blog!haha

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

Hey Hey Halloween

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ours was good. We couldn't do anything because I guess some people in Twin Falls dress up like missionaries and do bad things. So we were on lockdown. This didn't stop us from dressing up though! Both our costumes were random and un-explainable. haha. I was like...an old High Priest guy, and Elder Chain was a guy
decked out in plaid. It was pretty sick. We wore some pirate costumes at someones house who fed us dinner. Pretty fun, but I liked our originals more. Earlier in the morning, we went to the baptism of Colby Gardner. It was the 1st time I went to Stake Baptisms. Pretty cool experience. The coolest part of Halloween, was that we went to the Gardners later (to show off our costumes) and kids started showing up to trick-or-treat. Jokingly I said, "hey Nate (the other young Gardner son), you should pass out "pass along cards" with your candy". he was like, "OK!" so we gave him a stack of pass along cards and he handed them out. haha. It was pretty sweet.

As far as work, we are in the process of finding still. It's a long and sometimes boring process, but we stay positive that the Lord will bless us. Tomorrow is Zone conference where we watch a movie and basketball tournament. Most of you that know me know of my "love" for athletic sports (since I suck), so I am looking forward to the movie. haha.

Hope your all doing good.

I love ya tons!

Elder Woods

P.S. I don't think I explained a picture last week of an older gentleman. He's playing the saw. Apparently he's in the top 5 saw players in the world. I think its pretty easy though to be in the top 5 when there is only 5 saw players in the world. haha

A Chain-ge of Pace

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

So this week has really been INSANE.

So Tuesday we carved pumpkins before Elder West would have to leave to next day. I carved a Trogdor one. haha. They all turned out really cool and it was a lot of fun. Usually I get frustrated with carving since I suck, but I was pretty proud of this one.

On Wednesday, I got Chain BEFORE we dropped off Elder West. Which meant for 2 hours we were in a 5-some! Ya, absolutely crazy!!! haha. So I had to say bye to Elder West (which sucked cause Elder West has been one of my favorite comps) and return to the house with my 3 other comps. Luckily Chain is really cool. Unfortunately, Chain came to us at the tail end of having the swine flu. Which meant that we didn't get a TON of work done this week.

Friday we went out to Boise for Zone Leader Council, which was SOOO cool. We gotta hear from President which always owns. The drive to Boise is really long though so we were really tired when we had to go to Elder Naylors District Meeting in Jerome. It was good though. We played a good "get to know you game" which are always good.

Saturday we made the Zone Vision and calender. This transfer we will be celebrating "National Zombie Appreciation" week. I'll let you know when it comes up so you can participate in the fun. haha. That's one thing we're really excited about, is that this transfer is going to be way fun.

That's about it for the update. Other than that, Chain is recovering and we're doing good.

Hope you are all doing great.

I love ya all and don't catch the swine flu!!!

-Elder Woods

Will Work for Pizza

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Hey everybody!

This week has been good. Last week of the transfer already. It has FLOWN by! Every new transfer has been the fastest transfer. haha. Its crazy.

Wednesday was really cool. We had a baptismal interview for Ashley and Eric (one I talked about last week)came to mutual. I promised him I'd go if he came. Mutual however, was kinda lame. All they were doing was watching the BSU game. LAME! (I called and asked for permision don't worry, and BSU won for anyone that is interested). But he said he still had a good time.

Thursday we had to take the car in to get the door fixed so we had to sit in a waiting room for like 2 hours with a million old people watching soap operas, court room shows, and celebrity tv. SOOOO awkward. I REALLY don't miss day time TV. haha. We later went to an investigators house and did some service. It was pretty fun. We had a really good lesson with Noah and Sharde (baptized a little while back) and met with Dallis and Eric (read last week). It was really cool. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and Priesthood and stuff. Pretty cool.

Friday we had our last Zone Meeting. It was way fun. The whole thing was about testimonies and letting people know that we're not just missionaries,we are representatives of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was a pretty powerful meeting. After that, we had a taco fry and watched "The Phone Call" a.k.a. the greatest movie the church has ever made.haha. We did service after that, clearing someones garden, they in turn, took us out to a wicked awesome pizza place. WAY good.

Saturday was a big day, we had the baptism of Ashley and Blake Miller. Blake was 8, but Ashley was 11 so she was a convert. But it was so cool to see both of them get baptized. They are soooo fun to teach.

Sunday was really cool. Eric's family came to church (minus the dad and one of his brothers). We even convinced Eric to go to classes. So cool. After church, we had a lesson with them on the Temple grounds. I snagged a picture with Eric there. It was a really good lesson. So over all, it's been a pretty good week.

Next week should be insane. I get my new comp. Elder Chain, and it looks like we're gonna need to start finding some new people since we baptized all of them. haha. and for all you keeping tabs on Elder Bergquist's trunky'ness, he has 9 days left.haha.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love ya!

-Elder Woods

Be Brave Bradley, Don't Be Chicken

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:14:00 +0000

Hey everybody!

How are ya!

So last weeks blog was as long as a Stephen King book, so I'll try to keep it down today. Plus I don't have my planner on me so I can only hit the big things that happened this week in no particular order. haha.

Friday we had interviews. They were pretty awesome. Talked alot about conference in the training and mainly focused on Elder Hollands talk. Cause it was amazing. During my interview, President hinted that Elder West and I wouldn't be together again another transfer. Pretty sad. But from Elder West's interview, it still sounded like a maybe...until we got transfer calls yesterday. Elder West is being transfered out to Boise North zone, and I am getting Elder Chain, whom I served with for 3 days while we were waiting to get our greenies. It should be pretty fun. I'm glad I got a cool comp for this transfer since the holiday transfers are the hardest.

Bergquist is going home in 16 days (you better believe he's trunky! haha) and we still have no clue what's happening to Elder Hohman (our visa waiter). So it should be pretty wild.

We have a baptism this Saturday which we're pretty excited about, and 3 new ones on the horizon! It was the best/greatest lesson I've ever been at. The Spirit was so strong and man, it was just awesome. In a nut shell,
we're teaching these 2 kids Eric (14) and Dallis (11). Both REALLY cool kids. Their mom is a member who is re-activating herself and their dad is not a member who said he doesn't want anything to do with the church. Well whenever we go to their house and teach a lesson, he leaves the room and goes upstairs. He's super friendly though. Every once in a while, he will poke his head over the balcony and ask a question about something we taught. As soon as we answer it, he goes back over the balcony. Anyways, we taught a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we taught about baptism, I challenged both kids to be baptized. They said yes! It was so cool. BUT, it only got cooler when the dad poked his head over and said, "is there some kind of process someone has to go through to be baptized?" We told him the process was just to take the missionary lessons. Mustering up ALL the courage I had, I said, "you know, I don't want to withhold this invitation from you." and asked him to be baptized. He TOO said yes!
It was SOOO amazing. I was sooooooo scared to ask him, but I learned a
valuble lesson about following the promptings of the Spirit. I think I learned as much that lesson as those we taught. It was SUCH a great
experience.

Well, I hope all is well for you all.

I love ya tons!

-Elder Woods

Baptism by Snow (and I get shocked by lightning...now)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Hello!

So this week was WAY WAY cool. Wednesday we went out to Murtaugh. My GPS took us on a shortcut which actually turned out to be a very scenic route. We caught a really cool look at the canyon as we drove next to it the whole way to Murtaugh. Well we ended up blinking and almost missing Murtaugh, but we found it.

We started trying to contact people but quikly learned that its a terrible idea to try and contact anyone in a farming community on a wednseday during harvest season. (Oakley anyone? haha) No one was home. We did get some referels though, so that was good. We had a really good lesson later that night with the investigator being baptized on the 17th. In addition to all this fun, wednesday was actually "National Act Like a Pirate Day". So celebrate, Elder West and I had a competition to see who could sneek in the most "piratey" quotes during dinner. We were both almost crying trying to keep a straight face the whole dinner. haha. It was pretty funny. Thursday, Noah and Sharde' (you'll find out who they are later) had there baptismal interview and did awesome. They are great kids and we excited for baptism. We also had district meeting, which was actually really fun. (I had kinda forgot what a fun district meeting was like. haha). We played this game called "District Master" patterned after some Dungeons and Dragonish game where you searched rooms and stuff. It was actually similar to Strong Bad's "Dungeon Master" or even "Peasent Quest" (for those unfamilier with the website, repent and to to it now. homestarrunner.com). As nerdy as it sounds (which it was) it was pretty fun. You could tell that the district leader put alot of thought, time, and energy into making it. Fridays district meeting was also surprisingly fun. The whole thing was about wearing the armor of God and how it helps up to receive revelation for our investigtors. Pretty cool. That night was Noah and Sharde' s baptism. SOOO many people showed up to support them. It filled the relief society room and people were standing outside. (we would have moved it in the chapel, but a wedding reception was going on in the gym so we couldn't, As much as I would have loved to hear someone give a talk on the Holy Ghost with the electric slide playing in the backround. haha). A fellowshipper named Brother Christianson bore his testimony and I think it was one of the most powerful testimonies I've EVER heard. It was amazing. There wasn't a dry eye on Elder Woods face. haha. Way good.

Saturday, we woke up to see a very odd thing.

TONS of snow!

On october 3rd! What the heck? It was insane! So of course we had a snowball fight.

haha. It was pretty fun.

Saturday was conference. WAY good. We watched it at the Gardners and they fed us like every 5 seconds. They are WAY cool. On sunday, We went to breakfast at the Allens (made AMAZING waffles. Peanut butter and chocolet syrup almost made me go into diebetic shock. WAY good) and since it was still snowing so much, there satelite reception was gone. So we listened to conference on the radio. I had never done this and always wondered how people who did, knew who was talking. The answer is, they don't (or at least I didn't) unless they recognize the voice. haha. IT was still great though. We watched the last session at the Gardners again hoping an investigator would watch it with us. She showed up late, but still got to hear the prophets voice. It was cool. I loved Conference. Holland is SOOO amazing. Just so straight up! If anyone hasn't heard his talk, I would challenge you to go watch it. Don't read it. Watch it. Its more powerful when you see in his face how much it means to him. He's way cool. Yesterday we did some service shampooing a couch. (c-o-r-are you going to the mall today?) haha. IT was pretty funny. Well, that about sums up this crazy awesome week. Hope all is well for you all!

Love ya tons!

-Elder Woods

"Keeping our sights set high!"

Throwing Up and Hiking Down

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Yep,

You could prolly guess from the title that I got sick AGAIN! It's so ridiculous. But this was only a 24 hour thing. I'll talk about it later.

Last week I talked about how we was gonna have us a baby.

Well, on Tuesday, we did. His name is Elder Homan. He's from Salem Utah and is waiting for a visa to go to MONGOLIA! Holy man! haha. Talk about crazy. He says the only thing people eat it sheep. Maybe I should be a little more thankful for getting Lasagna (I'm sure it reeks havoc on his IBS) 80 times a week for dinner.(I can no longer eat that meal. Sorry mom. haha). He is actually really cool for a greenie. I was impressed. But I was more impressed with when he taught. We spit up and taught a lesson and he taught like he had been out for over a year. He's a REALLY good teacher. Being in a four-some is really interesting. I've never heard of it ever happening before, so we can only guess what to do with it. We end up splitting up a lot because showing up to someones door with 4 missionaries would prolly look like the mafia. haha.

So on Wednesday, we had Zone Conference. It was REALLY good. The whole thing was focused on the Book of Mormon and using it to resolve concerns. During Zone breakout, we gave every companionship a concern, and had them look up multiple scriptures to use for that concern. We set up empty bottles with those concerns written on them and after they used that scripture, they shot the bottle down with a dart. If they missed, their comp used a back up scripture to help them. It was pretty fun,but more importantly, we learned that ANY problem can be resolved using the Book of Mormon.

Thursday, we went didn't go to district meeting because it got cancelled...I don't know how you cancel a district meeting...but ok. We did have some really good lessons that day and moved our two baptisms from sat to Fri. (the 3rd got moved to the 17th). Pretty cool.

Friday we went to the other district meeting,and visited a bunch of people after. That night, I began to feel a little woozy. But I didn't think anything of it because it happens alot.

On Saturday, we went out and picked tomatoes for this family. We ended up picking 40 BOXES of tomatoes! I don't even like tomatoes!haha. But, throughout the whole service, I just kept feeling worse and worse. We left and Elder West and Bergquist were both feeling like crap too. We got home and the puking began. West and I were the only ones puking like crazy. Bergquist just had a way bad stomach ache. Homan was perfectly fine. (we think it was because he just got out of the germ infested MTC after being there for 3 months and built up an immunity). But we were hating it all night.

Luckily a really nice member (I don't know who it was since I was passed out on the floor when they came) came and brought us soup and medicine and stuff.

We were pretty sick Sunday too. We ended up going to a little of church and taking the sacrament. But by the end of Sunday, we were good.

Monday was good. We met with a bunch of families and went to a bunch of meetins.

Today, (after going to the temple) the Gardners (way cool fam) took us out to Balance Rock, Niagra Springs, and other cool sites. It was really cool and I took some cool pics that I can

hopefully post.

Well, that's about it.
Thanks for all you do everyone!

I love ya All!

-Elder Woods

Heavy Metal

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:14:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

So this week has been much calmer than others. But still wild - a bird made out of metal. Which we saw a ton of yesterday. Very random. (pictures will be included). haha.

Anyways, Wednesday we planned for Zone Conference (we are in charge of planning a "Zone breakout" which is really just an hour long Zone meeting), so we thought of some fun activities plus helping to resolve investigators concerns. We also put our bikes together and put them in the backyard of someone in Kinberly. (we actually cover Kimberly but live in Twin Falls, which is 5 miles away... I have no Idea either.)

We met with a new investigator (11 year old girl in a PMF - mission speak for part member family) and set a baptism date for Oct 3rd! So we'll have three that day. Probably 2 before Conference and 1 between sessions. Should be an awesome day! Except for conference means we have to wear suit-coats again. Ugh...oh well, its kinda cold now that the wind picked up.

Thursday I went on an exchange with some other Elders into their area. Its was pretty awesome. We taught like 6 Napolise (I have no clue how to spell it. People from Napal) families. They are so receptive and amazing. Someone had givin them some anti and they told us, "give us a Book of Mormon. They made us take their fake movies so we'll make them take this true book!" haha. So tight! It was a really cool experience. Except hardly any of them could speak English so I had a very hard time following the lesson. haha.

Friday we went to a District Meeting where Elder Bergquist exchanged with a greenie in Jarome. So West and I got the Greenie. haha, oh Greenies...haha. Anyways, we went to a ward Luau where they had coconut (good), pork (good), pinapple (good), and Bar-b-cue sauce to put ALL over it...(what?!) haha. It was pretty good though.

Saturday (after doing progress records) we were informed that we would be getting a Visa waiter straight from the MTC. So we would be in a four-some...with a greenie...oh boy...haha. We have no idea why it's happening or why the AP's thought this would be a good idea, but we'll run with it. haha. We get him later today.

Sunday we went to church all day and had some REALLY good lessons...fall through. haha. We did have one REALLY good lesson at the end of the day with 2 new investigators. pretty awesome.

Yesterday, we were on bikes. Ugh...haha. This is how I saw the metal bird statue things. Pretty interesting.

That about sums up the week. This upcoming week should be REALLY interesting though. haha.

I love ya all

-Elder Woods

PARTY X3

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Myself, Elder Naylor and Elder Mickelson wearing our stunner shades. haha

The Hoggs. One of my favorite families on the planet.

Surprise visit from Grandpa Lehman! haha

Hey everyone!

So this week has been WAY awesome. I thought I was busy in Caldwell, but I'm like 3x more so here in Twin Falls. I actually don't cover Twin at all. I cover Kimberly, Hanson, and Murtaugh. Ever heard of them? Ya, me neither. But they are awesome.

Wednesday was transfers and I rode the van all the way to Twin and met up with Elder Bergquist and West and the party began. We all get along SUPER good and all have a desire to work hard so it's tight. We contacted some awesome people and began to know the area.

Thursday, we went to a district meeting in the morning. Pretty good. Then we went out and put in fence posts for a guy named Max. We just saw him doing some work, offered to help and we were there a few hours. It was actually way fun. Our dinner appointment gave us 3 referrals, we contacted all of them right after and they all wanted us to come back. YA! That night we met with some younger investigators and set a baptism date with both of them. It was amazing.

Friday we went to another district meeting and then went out to a leadership training meeting with President. It was a really good meeting. President pulled the rug out from under all of us and said "no caffeine drinks". (Brad and the good Dr. have a long friendship, this should be interesting) CRAP! I had totally just bought a twelve pack of Dr. Pepper that morning! AH! haha. oh well, thank goodness for limeade's at sonic! haha I'll survive with that. That night we met with some more people who were just awesome.

Saturday, we woke up and did service painting a house. This was a HUGE project. We painted FOREVER. It was pretty fun though. After that we worked on progress records and the zone vision/calender. It ended up being really cool. I'll try to get it on the blog. Prolly next week. Also that day, Phil a.k.a. Elder Lehman, stopped by. Way cool to see him again. He is so tight.

Sunday we had a great day. Went to like 6 sacrament meeting and had some awesome lessons. We set another baptism date. WAY COOL! (It was really a re-set, but hey! a dates a date! haha).

Yesterday we did some planning and other stuff, then had District Leader Council where we presented the Zone vision. It was a good meeting. That night we got two new investigators who are SOOO cool! One of them is a skater who plays drums and loves music. Sound familiar? haha. Way cool.

We started today off by going to the temple. Great start. I missed the temple so bad. It's amazing.

Well, that's all the time I got.

I love you all!

-Elder Woods

Just a Few More Pictures

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Thanks to cute Diane Naylor (Brad's companions mom) who sent me these bonus pictures. (I love it when this happens!!!)

Caldwell Apartment

(Shared By The Wonderful Hogg Family)

Caldwell Apartment

Falls That Look Alike!!

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:48:00 +0000

The drumset - beautiful color

Jammin with Shafercotter. He's WAY good and we had a blast!

The Caldwell Zone

A BSU jacket a really want. Maybe christmas?... haha. Ya, I'm a BSU fan now. I think it's impossible not be in this state. EVERYONE is. I still love ASU way more. I just gotta rep Boise. haha

The Tuckett Family. Way cool

Hey everyone!

So this week, not as monumentally insane as last week, just busy. I'll just hit the big things. Transfer calls came in and I am heading out to Twin Falls to be with Elder Bergquist (check the blog like last October to hear about him. We became friends in Burley) and Elder West (from Mesa AZ. We were in the MTC together and became good friends)! So this should OWN! I am way excited!

This week however, meant I had to say goodbye to alot of cool people/families. Such as the Tuckett (two T's? I dunno) family. Way cool family. Brother Tuckett is the Ward Mission Leader of 8th ward and is one of the best I've ever met. It also meant saying bye to the Hogg's (picture next week), whom we live with.

Yesterday, the other Elders we lived with finally found housing (they didn't find it, the wards they cover were supposed to find it for them) and we helped them move out. It was weird last night actually being able to go to sleep on time. (Any missionary reading this that has ever spent time in a four-some apartment will know what I'm talking about. haha).

We had our last District Meeting which we combined the Districts and had Zone Meeting and went out to pizza afterwards.

That's about all I got. I'm sure other stuff happened, but that's all I can remember.

As an update, Elder Tanner (Oakley Companion) returns home at conference. His homecoming should be around than. He's an awesome guy.

Well, I love ya all tons!

Have a good week and next week I'll be broadcasting live from Twin Falls!

-Elder Woods

The 1000000 Degree House

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Brad wrote in his email this week that his apartment is 1000000 degrees at night (but the family they live with is awesome). This past week Brad's companion's mom contacted me. It is so fun to be able to share this experience with mom's all over the country. The Naylors live in San Diego - LUCKY and it has been great to share pictures and information on our Elders. I swiped, I mean borrowed these pictures of Brad's house that reaches 10000000 in their top apartment off her blog. Thanks Diane (her blog is totally cute, just like her and she has the cutest hair and shoes).

Oh C_ap!!!!

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

So this week has been hilariously busy. Some of the pictures may be a little graphic. And by some, I mean one. You'll heart he story soon enough. But let's start at the beginning of this crazyweek.

Wednesday, we had a zone service project. We stacked like 20,000,000 pieces of wood. It was pretty insane, but fun because so many people were there.

Thursday, I went on an exchange with my zone leader Elder Shafercotter (WAY cool. and I think I spelt his name WAY wrong). I went to his area (Middleton. Hooray!) and had a blast. He is the district leader of the other district which meant that we went to 2 district meetings (man I feel bad for zone leaders! haha). I did get to see some people I knew last year and it was really fun.

Friday was mission tour. This is like zone conference only it's in Boise and someone big comes. We had Elder Kenneth B Johnson of the 70 from England (Hey Jake!). It was pretty intense. It was fun though because I got to see so many of my missionary friends all at once. After driving back to Caldwell, we had dinner and went BACK to Boise for a fireside Elder Johnson held. It was pretty good.

Saturday (WARNING:This day was SOO insane, those not capable of reading beyond crazy things should stop now). I don't even remember the order things happened on Saturday. But we'll focus on Elder Naylor for now. We went to Los Betos for breakluch meal thing, and he got this huge bacon burrito. After that, we went to Sonic to get happy hour and he always jokes around saying, "you can get anything you want in a drink right? I'm gonna get bacon!" Well...he actually did it. He ordered a Caramel milkshake with bacon. I guess it is against Sonic policy to put Bacon in a milkshake, so the guy brought out his milk shake and gave him some free strips of bacon. Which he put in the shake and ate. Later that day, we had an All-you-can-eat corn feed. Elder Naylor decided that he could out-eat anyone there and be like his hero Johnny Chestnut. He than proceded in eating 10(!!!!) ears of corn. Along with a burger and brownie to finish it off like a champ. That night we went home (elder Naylor being a pretty sick boy at this point) and since it was early, decided to hang in the back yard where the temperature was nice. Well after a few hours and planning and stuff, we decided to head in and go to sleep. This did not end up happening, because as we headed in, Elder Tobin fell off the swing and it somehow came back around and hit him in the head. We didn't think it was a big deal at1st until massive amounts of blood started running down his face. I grabbed the car keys as fast as I could and we BOOKED it to the hospital. (I think angels were distracting all the cops, keeping them off that road. haha) He ended up getting 7(!!!) staples in his head.So crazy.

Because of the head injury, he couldn't attend church so I stayed home with him the next day. Kinda boring since he couldn't do anything. But really that sums up this crazy week. My only questions is why are we still using staples in peoples heads? haha. You'd think we'd have some super technological way to seal the cut, but nope. Common staples probably purchased at a $1 store. haha.

Well, Hope yourday is awesome.

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

In Addition:

I forgot to tell you something very important that happened on saturday. A good friend of mine named Spencer A.K.A Elder Wenzel came to visit. It was a short visit, but he brought me a movie he put together that we made last transfer. Hilarious and amazing. I'll try to send you a copy. Just know its the greatest. haha. Love ya!

Shared photo book from Woods

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Click here to view this photo book larger

The Late Bird, Er, Elders Speak in Church

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Elder James Grant Visits Brad's Hideous Suit

Brad's new SHORT Hair and Elder Naylor

District Game

Hey!

SO this has been a great week.

Wednesday we had interviews with the Mission Pres. They were way good. He kinda hinted that I would be leaving, but other than that I have no clue. haha. After that we continued the amazing tradition of going to Golden Dragon (a Chinese buffet guaranteed to make you sick for 3 days) haha. It was way fun.

Thursday, we had District Meeting. This was pretty fun. So I made this game like a board game where people were the pieces. We rolled a spinner thing and it determined were you landed. Each space would get you a different challenge. Dark Blue- Scripture Concerns. Brown- Quotes. Light Blue- Preach My Gospel. Pink- A Recitation Activity (this led to some REALLY funny videos), and Black-Totally random hard questions. haha. It was Way fun.

Sunday was a pretty big day too. We both spoke (we walked in late and they said "and now we'll hear a little from the Elders" so we just kept walking to the front. haha) and we had another zone devotional. This was about setting goals. The Stake Pres there set a goal for 300 baptisms this year. Sounds crazy, but he broke it down to 4 baptisms to every group in every ward and it was way more than 300. 4 is such an easy number. Pretty cool.

Yesterday we did some crazy service staking wood. The whole Zone was there for several hours and we still didn't finish. haha.

Well, I love ya all.

Have a good one!

-Elder Woods

Area, District, Banana Split

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

(This picture is of Bro Belnap. The coolest Ward mission leader ever. He was a drummer, in a band, in Warped Tour. Officially the coolest. haha. But I had to say bye because I lost that ward to the new Elders. haha.)

Hey everyone!

So Crazy week.

Everything will make sense in the title...except the banana. Sorry. No explanation there. haha.

So on Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Mickelson in Marsing/Homedale. While ON the exchange, I got a call from the AP's telling me that my area is going to be split. Two more elders (McMurdie and Tobin) will be coming in and covering three of our 7 wards. Unfortunately, they wanted me to pick which wards they cover. This was difficult since I wasn't in my area and didn't have a map or anything. So I had to call my comp and get him to describe what the area looks like. I drew a map of what I thought it looked like (it looks NOTHING like the real map. haha) and picked 3 wards that are really close together and pretty small. This is because the other elders are on Bikes full time. Those three wards were actually the wards we dedicated the most time to. Oh well.

So on Thursday after district meeting (which was way fun. We had "Caldwell's Got Talent" haha), the other Elders moved in. They have yet to get a home for Elders to live in in the wards they cover so they moved in with us.(very cramped). Also unfortunate, it the fact that we live at the very North point of our area and the Elders area is the opposite side. So we have to drive them to their area everyday. ITs not as bad as I make it sound. They are both cool elders and we have a lot of fun. But that's what we've been doing.

Along with the area being split, they made a new district. My district is now the Sisters in Middleton, us, and the bikers. So a good deal smaller, but it should still be fun.

Well, that pretty much sums up this crazy week. Work has been really good though. No dates set yet, but alot of good things.

Hope your all doing awesome!

-Elder Woods

PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Elder Wenzel

Elder Mickelson

Random Gifts

Very Random Gifts

(Death by seriously ugly pants)

Hello everyone!

So the birth/death day was a success. It was really fun. I ended up getting them both a ton of random gifts and Sister Draper (hooray!) baked two cakes. One for each. I also ended up buying an Optimus Prime pinata and filling it with candy. But instead of bats or anything, we made them punch it. haha. This meant that I have some hilarious videos of both. haha. (Elder Wenzel for instance ended up giving Optimus the peoples elbow and dunking it in the basketball hoop) haha.

Wednesday we had a few comp. seminars with a few of the Elders and met with a lot of our investigators.

Thursday was district meeting in Middleton. It was the Zone Leaders turn to be in charge. It was good and we all went to pizza afterwards. yeah! haha.

Friday it rained like crazy but we worked through it. In fact, it rained ALL day. Pretty crazy.

Saturday we did progress records and visited a bunch of families. Pretty good day.

Sunday was a pretty long day. I had gotten used to 8 hours of church, but for some reason last Sunday seemed to drag on. Except for Sunday School. The gospel principal classes were some of the best I've ever been to that day. Dinner was way fun. Had some authentic Carne Asada. Yeah! That night we had a Zone devotional in Middleton with Stake President Evens. He taught us about Sincere Prayer. It was really cool and insightful.

Yesterday was a pretty packed day too. Besides weekly planning and planning for District Meeting (which should be way fun. I'll take pics. haha), we saw the majority of our investigators. This week should actually be really crazy. We have something everyday this week so it should be fun.

Stay tuned!

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

Investigators Here, There and Everywhere

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Henry's Baptism

Hey!

So this week has been a good kinda crazy. We've been REALLY busy. On Wednesday, we had transfers early morning. My new comp is Elder Naylor from San Diego California. He's pretty cool. Kinda quiet, but it's alright. We tried to contact all our ward mission leaders that day, but only caught like 3 home. But those three had people they wanted us to see. So it was pretty awesome.

Thursday was district meeting, which is really just zone meeting since there is only one companionship that isn't in our district in the zone. So we all combine and had a good meeting. We had a lesson with Henry (you'll hear about him later) and met with a ton of other people.

Friday, Elder Wenzel came with us. yeah! haha. We had a really good lesson with a New Member, who dominated Elder Wenzel at Ping Pong before the lesson. We met with two new investigators and talked about baptism so they are currently praying about it. Way cool.

Saturday was the big day. At 9 am, we had the baptism of Henry Helkowski. It went awesome. He was confirmed at the baptism and was so happy he was crying. (he's a pretty tough guy too. haha). At 11am, we had the baptism of Angela Anderson (no picture). A lot of people came to show support. She felt really good too. After that and progress records, we met with another new investigator and talked about church with her. She committed to go, but ended up being sick on Sunday. But she is pretty excited about baptism already.

Sunday was really busy too. After church we had a ton of people to go see that kept us moving that day.

Yesterday we had Area Leader Council (really just a replacement of district leader council since there is only 2 district). It was a really good meeting and after we went to Red Robins...which I'd never been to...which is AMAZING! haha. After that we were pretty busy contacting and teaching.

It's been WAY good so far. That's it for this week.

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

101 And Having Fun

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:26:00 +0000

The Caldwell District

Hey!

Hope everyone is enjoying the heat. Its not too bad here. People kinda go crazy if its anything above 100*. "Oh my goodness its 101*! The streets are gonna melt" but when I tell them where I'm from they're like, "oh...ok..." haha.

This week has been alot of good byes for Elder Peterson as he gets trasnfered to Declo (right next to Burley) and Elder Naler moves in tomorrow morning. I don't know anything about him.

We had our final district meeting as the Caldwell zone. It was way fun. I actually made a missionary version of scatagories. Pretty fun!

Sunday was the highlight of the week. We had two baptisimal interviews that went great. Both are really prepared and are both getting baptized this sat. (actually two hours apart. Man that's gonna be some crazy timing!) This week has been great.

That's it for today though. Short and sweet (better than sour right [for Jesse Johnson]). Next week I should have a pretty good update on comp, district, and everything else/

Love ya all!

-Elder Woods

I uploaded some new videos of Brad from Payette and La Grande

Marble Magic:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ilovetoflyswa#play/uploads/3/JalsG2ZrcVo

Payette Tour Part II

http://www.youtube.com/user/ilovetoflyswa#play/uploads/5/kjauCunpByg

Oh Hail

http://www.youtube.com/user/ilovetoflyswa#play/uploads/4/tlkf4nzkoZY

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Brad and Elder Wenzel (Fall '08) Elder Wenzel Wearing The Best Band EVER!!! (Fall '08)

Hey!

So last Tuesday I think I told you about the scavenger hunt we planned to do, or we had just done it. I don't remember, anyways, we did the scavenger hunt and it was WAY fun. We didn't have time to review pictures though so we ended up doing that on Thursday after district meeting. It was pretty close, but my team won by 1 point! pretty crazy. and I know what your thinking, "hey, the guy that made the scavenger hunt won!" well...that's true. haha. Its was fun though. Everyone had a good time.

On Friday, Elder Finau and Wenzel celebrated there two year mark by burning a suit each. This was REALLY REALLY cool.

The work has gone great this week as well. We picked up a new investigator who's praying about a date and have two baptism dates set for August 1st. That's gonna be one crazy day! haha.

Other than that, not much happened. I caught some bug that made me not feel good for two days. I still worked, but it sucked. I think its gone. haha. Crazy.

Anywho, hope everything is good for you!

Love ya tons!

-Elder Woods

(Sorry I don't have a picture of Elder Finau)

Still Crazy After All These Months

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Scavenger Hunt Fun

Caldwell

4th of July with the Drapers

(Check out Brad's shorts, socks and most of all shoes?)

HEY!

How is everybody? Those without bodies, good day to you as well.

This week has been pretty awesome. I don't have my planner on me and I have a terrible memory so its a deadly combination. This means I can't give a day by day, but can give some cool highlights in no particular order. To prove I don't care about order, today we went to the temple (always amazing) and then had a huge zone scavenger hunt. Made by me. It was somewhat similar to the one I made in Burley, I just made it alot harder. Which ended up being way fun.

This week we also had interviews. It sounds like I'm stayin, but ya never know. Rumors are also goin down that (since we cover the whole Caldwell East Stake) our area might get split. I wouldn't mind this. Our area is really big and our mile allotment is not so big.

Yesterday we moved. This is always a LOAD of fun. Especially when you have to move 4 times in one transfer!haha. But seriously. District meeting this week was pretty fun. An Elder had to go through a chair maze blindfolded with 6 peoples shouting bad directions and one whispering the right ones. This was pretty hilarious, but we also learned alot. haha.

I went on an exchange with elder Wenzel and I got to go get my hair cut by sister Jones in Middleton (the Jones are a really cool family I met in Middleton last year) so it was cool to see them.

This week the work has gone REALLY good. We have two baptism dates set and plan on doing more. It's going awesome.

Well, I gotta run. Thank you all for all you do!

Love ya tons!

-Elder Woods

Pics. 4th, 4th, 4th of july, and other stuff. Also one from the scavenger hunt today that you'll love

Appendi-out-site-us

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Hey!

Sorry for the lengthy absence. If you haven't heard, I just had my appendix taken out in Caldwell. Consequently, I have also been transferred to Caldwell. This is not bad at all.

Reason #1 Elder Wenzel is my zone leader and Elder Gebhart (another really good friend of mine) is in my district. The rest of the members of the zone are all REALLY cool too.

#2 I am FINALLY by a Sonic again! It's like not watching Star Wars for a really long time and than watching all 6. It's that amazing. haha.

#3 I was in Middleton (next town over) last year so I've run into alot of familiar faces. There is a lot more reasons, but I think 3 is enough.

So how was everyone's 4th of July? Mine was AWESOME. (oh by the way I tried to put pics on and it wouldn't let me so next week I'll have a ton).

(So I added some for him)

3rd of July I went with Gebhart to Homedale to watch there firework show. For some reason they do there show on the 3rd... I really don't know why, but it was really cool. We knew the people running the show so we kinda got back stage. WAY cool! The show was tight. I have alot of it filmed.

4th of july, we went to Middleton and watched the parade and had a BBQ at (drumroll) THE DRAPERS! Crazy! I was at their house last 4th of July. It was way fun. We had a water balloon fight and had a blast.

Some other great things have probably happened this last week but because of a little thing called Vicodin, I can't remember. haha. But right now I'm back to 100%. FINALLY. It's awesome

Thank you for all your prayers. Tune in next week for pictures like crazy!!

-Elder Woods

p.s. I heard in the hospital that Micheal Jackson died. and than I heard Billy Mayes died. What is happening to the world?! haha

Elder Wenzel's the TALL one!

2008 4th of July (all but Brad are home now!!)

July 2008 The Awesome Draper Family (Brother Draper was at work)

Ouchy Land

jrcw20@gmail.com (Brad's Mom) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:58:00 +0000

This week has been tough. Its gone by unusually fast though. I can't even remember like the past 3 or 4 days. Its so weird. I remember being in the hospital and everything else is a blur. I think its the drugs. It knocks me out pretty hard. But I'm getting better. I can walk ok now. It still hurts like crazy, but I can push through it pretty good. Thursday I have to go back to the hospital and do a follow up. I don't really know how thats gonna go. I have these HUGE scars! Oh man they ripped me open. They hurt like crazy. But the drugs help. It knocks me out though. Um...oh ya.

I'm getting transfered to Caldwell East. My new comp is Elder Peterson. I'm by a Sonic! Its amazing. they have this new drink called a...mango something. I dunnno. Its really hard to think right now. Typin is hard too. mmmmm.

Love you -

Elder Woods

p.s. The picture is of elder Gebhart visiting me in the hospital.