Full Circle

Well. The results of transfers..................

I am back in good old Temecula! Which really seems like my mission has come full circle (and I know it's a bit melodramatic since I still have a while left...but whatever). It's crazy being back up here after a full year. And the weirder thing is that I live in my old area! Because if you remember my last area in Temecula was the one with all the apartment complexes in it. So all the missionaries seem to live in it! And so do I! I live in the complex adjacent to the ones I lived in in the Meadowview ward. My companion and I are in a four-man with a couple of the Spanish Elders that are up here. It gets a bit funny when they start speaking Spanish around us and we just tell them to speak English, but it has been a lot of fun so far. On the English note; guess what else! Elder English is up here in Temecula as well! Living in Meadowview ward boundaries as well! He is training now, and his new companion is from the Philippines, so that is pretty cool. And third, one of the missionaries that covers the Meadowview ward is Elder Tyger! Everything up here seems so familiar with all these familiar faces!

Saying Goodbye to Elder English, sort of.

I am now in the Pauba ward, which is pretty cool. It means that we get to drive around a Jeep Compass full time because a lot of the area is dirt roads, back roads, and "wine country" (meaning dirt and back roads with lots of wineries). And it has been a lot of fun so far! My companion's name is Elder Stevens, and he is a really cool guy! He has been out for about 20 months, and he is also the district leader.

And Hello to Elder Stevens

 Now for some fun stories from this last week!

One thing I've learned this week is how unreliable a GPS can be. Because Elder Stevens and I got lost on our way to dinner, not once, but twice! The first time our GPS was leading us in the completely wrong direction on the dirt roads, and the next night it lead us across the street from our dinner. The funny thing about the second one is we pull up into the house it is indicating, and Elder Stevens confirms that a member does live there, but he didn't remember who, so we go knock on the door, and no one is home! We try to call and text our dinner, but can't get an answer, so we just sit there and wait. About a half hour later our dinner calls us asking if we are coming over, and we are like, "Yeah, we think we are sitting in your driveway but it doesn't look like anyone is home." The member tells us they are home and we aren't in their driveway, and then after a few moments pause tells us that we are sitting in her brother's driveways across the street! It was very embarrassing for us. But we eventually ended up getting to dinner and it was delicious. At the dinner I got introduced to a weird vegetable called a Romanesco Cauliflower. It looked really weird. So of course I took pictures of it!

Romanesco Cauliflower

On Friday Elder Stevens had to go to MLC (mission leadership council) so I got to spend some time with Elder Tyger in my old ward. We didn't get the chance to see anyone because no one is at home during the day in Temecula, but it was really nice being able to walk around and remember all the fun times that I had in the Meadowview ward. Little bit nostalgic I'll be honest.

Valentine's day was pretty good. We had a Zone Breakfast in the morning (which also brought back a little bit of nostalgia) and that was really good. Had dinner with an awesome member and his family. He was really cool because he is the only member in his family but is still active, which I have seen a bit of on my mission so far, but at this dinner his kids and their families were visiting as well, and seeing him in that situation really strengthened my testimony of being active no matter the circumstances. In the evening we went and visited a less active member that lived really far out on the back roads, and that was good. He had a couple very obedient German Shepherds that were very fun. It was a pretty good way to spend Valentine's day as a missionary.

Almost forgot! A spiritual thought! (that rhymed)

A really awesome video that just came out on mormonchannel.org is called "Family History: What I Found" and it is a really touching story about a man who comes to get to know his grandfather even more by looking into the past and finding out more about his grandfather's life in WWII. I really like it because I love finding stories about my ancestors and getting to know them through what they did. It makes me excited when I will be able to finally meet these people in the next life!

Other than that not much has happened this last week. But it is still really exciting for me to be back in Temecula! So I guess we'll see what happens next!

Love,

Elder Wixom