Week Thirteen: Exploration and Adventure

My district. I'm the only one left after transfers!

Area: Littlerock Spanish Branch
Companion: Hermana White

This week was super crazy! General Conference, transfers, getting lost in the mountains, and bomb rocking lessons. This week has been strange!

Starting with last Monday, after we emailed, our entire district went out into the mountains to go hiking and kite flying. I thought that our entire area was just dirt and Joshua trees, but the ride up to Devil's Punch bowl was so beautiful! The entire time, I was just in awe. I will send some pictures. While we were on the hike, we decided to go off trail and follow a little creek. It was okay until we had to get back up to the trail. Hermana White had decided to wear flats instead of tennis shoes, so it was a little hard for her to go straight up the hills. Eventually, we made it up to the top. It was so windy while we were up there, I was a little afraid that I was going to fall off the cliffs. Everything ended up being okay.

On the road to our mountain adventure.

The mountains are so pretty!

Later Monday night, we were knocking on some doors. At one of the doors, we started talking to this lady who was wearing pajamas and slippers. That night, it was only 45 degrees, so I guess that we were looking a little cold. After about three minutes, the lady stopped us and said, "I don't want to be rude, but it is really cold and dark outside . . . and I am sure that you would much rather be home . . . so . . . I'm just . . . going to close the door now." She looked so nervous and awkward. After that, she just closed the door. We stood there for a couple of seconds before we started laughing and we left.

On Monday night, we were looking at our area and we learned that there are actually three or four little towns in our area that we have never even been to. We thought that there must be people who need the gospel in Llano (about 15 miles outside of Littlerock), so we went thereon Tuesday night. It turns out that in Llano there are only old, retired golfers who already have their religion, so we decided to go to Pearblossom instead. There, we found a lot of really cool people who seemed prepared to hear the message of the gospel.

What had prompted our journey to the farther reaches of our area was the fact that we received a referral for a man who lives in a little town called Juniper Hills. In reality, he doesn't really live in Juniper Hills. He lives about five miles from Juniper Hills in the heart of the mountains. None of the roads that go to his house showed up on the GPS when we tried to go there, so we took directions from Google Maps and decided to try and see him during the week. It turns out that the only roads that lead to his house are something akin to four-wheeler paths that wind and twist through the mountains with cliffs on either side. We got about one mile into the path before we decided that we couldn't do it in the mission vehicle. We still have to contact our referral, so I don't know exactly what is going to happen.

The night that we went on our mountain adventure, we got our transfer calls. I am staying in Littlerock, but I am literally the only person in the entire district who is. Hermana White is going to Bakersfield. It is super sad ...

... especially because we are finally starting to see a lot of our investigators progress. Hopefully, it will turn out okay!

The Salgado Family (Chris, Kate, Jenny, and Mia) 

A member family ... The Lopez Family

General Conference was so good. I feel like I appreciate it so much more as a missionary than I did before the mission. I was so sad when it was over. We got to watch it in English. I feel like every talk was really good. I came to Conference with a lot of questions that I have been pondering for some time, and I feel like every single question that I had was answered in a really specific way. One of the impressions that I was feeling really strongly during the Conference was the need to do service. I feel like I am so much happier on my mission than I was before, and I think that at least one of the reasons for that is that I am constantly serving people. I think that the value of service is one of the biggest things that I have learned during my small time on the mission.

Me with Mia Salgado. She is six (almost seven) and just about the
cutest little girl ever. When we taught her family about the First Vision
she said that she wanted to try seeing God the next time she prayed. 

This week, we have had a lot of really spiritual lessons. The part member family that we have been teaching lately is really progressing. While we were in the lesson, we asked Stephanie if she would like to know if the Book of Mormon is true. She said that she already knew that it was. She told us that she had read and prayed to know, just like we had told her. We were shocked! Nobody does that after the first lesson. They are super prepared and I am so happy that they are progressing.

Everything is going well here. The work continues to press forward. I know that the Lord directs this work because it is so important for the happiness of everyone. I love being a missionary and being able to share the gospel with everyone I meet. 

Until next week,

Hermana Blau