Week Forty:Nine: A Little Winter Wonderland

Hermana White and I with our investigator, Julio

Area: Arvin Spanish Branch
Companion: Hermana White

This week has been a crazy one. It was the last week of Hermana White, so we were working extra hard to squeeze every little bit of the time and energy that we had to make the most of it. We saw a lot of miracles and we were able to see the hand of the Lord.

One day this week, we went out to go work before having lunch. We were talking to everyone and sharing with all with such intensity that we didn't realize that we hadn't eaten lunch until almost 3. We went home and ate a relatively large lunch rather quickly because we had a four o'clock appointment with our investigator Julio. When we got there, we discovered that he had bought us a TON of tacos and hot chocolate (he recently gave up coffee when we taught about the Word of Wisdom :)). We ate a ton there and taught him a little bit. After that, we continued on to our dinner that a member was giving to us. After that, I was feeling more than a little full, but we continued on to a lesson that we were having with a recent convert. When we got there, we discovered that he had bought pizza. I feel like I have never eaten more food in my entire life! Missionary struggles!

Arvin is a little winter wonderland! Most of the people around town keep their lights up all year long, but now that the Christmas time has come, all of the lights are up and it is absolutely stunning! As we drive down the street, I can't help but look at all of the beautiful houses and the Christmas cheer!

This week, Hermana White and Hermana Martineau went down to the temple with a couple of their recent converts who were taking their own family names with them. While it was going on, Hermana Zambrano and I were left to be companions again. We didn't have our normal P-day to do normal P-day things (except for emails), so Hermana Zambrano and I were on mini-exchanges for our P-day. It was really fun to be with Hermana Zambrano again and to go around Bakersfield running errands.

Last night, we decided to follow the spirit and let it guide us to the places that we needed to be for the last couple of hours of Hermana White's missionary service. We started out by stopping the car when Hermana White saw someone that she wanted to talk to. When we talked to him, he wasn't really interested, but he was able to refer us to his Aunt who was really cool. We finished talking to her and we went to go visit a part member/less active family that we met a couple of days ago. We weren't able to talk to the member father, but we did talk to the son, who was actually super cool. On the way out of the apartment complex, we saw a man sitting on his second floor balcony. We called up to him and shared a little with him while he was looking down on us. He actually had been through some really tough things and we were able to help him to find some peace in his situation. After that, we went to a trailer park and started talking to the people there. We were able to pick up a really cool investigator who was sitting with his girlfriend outside. That was the last moment of the night before we had to go home and do planning. It was a night full of miracles!

This upcoming transfer, I am going to be staying in Arvin with Hermana Luquette. I am super excited to be able to be companions with her. She is pretty much the nicest person that I have ever met and I am sure that we are going to have a blast this upcoming transfer! 

I hope that you are all having a good time at home and that you are able to appreciate the spirit of Christmas. I think that the Light the World campaign is so cool. I love how we can be like the Savior in that. We can't all make as big of a sacrifice as He did, but we can help all the world in our own little ways. I hope that you all are able to find service opportunities during this special time of the year!

I love you all and I hope that you have a good week!

Hermana Blau

The packing tornado of Hermana White