Week Sixty-Nine: The Work Goes On!

Area: Delano Ward
Companion: Hermana Galvez

This week was super cool! We were able to see so many miracles and to have so many adventures! I love being a missionary here and being able to share the gospel to the people of this area. It feels like such a blessing.

We had one of our adventures on Tuesday afternoon. We were going to go check on one of our investigators when we noticed that someone had cut down a giant palm tree and was trying to get it out of the road. We decided to ask if they needed any help. When we got near, the man who was cleaning up the tree told us that he was okay and didn't need any help. Then, he warned us to watch out for the baby owl that was under a nearby car. We went to look and there really was  a poor, helpless owl that had fallen out from it's nest in the palm tree when they cut it down. We were worried for the owl and asked the man if we could use his phone to find the number for animal control. We tried to call them, but they were closed for the night. We didn't know what to do, so we tried to ask the man for help. He didn't really know what to do either. We had an appointment, so we had to go, but as we were walking away the man asked us if we were from the area. We said that we weren't. Then, he asked us if we had seen McFarland USA. We said that we had. He told us that he was one of the real life runners from the movie. I should have known that I would been meeting film stars when I got my mission call to southern California! :)

McFarland USA!!!

We came back later that night to see another investigator who lived on the street and we checked to see if the baby owl was still there. It was, so we decided to attempt to move it to the bushes so it would have a better chance of not being eaten by cats. After a couple of minutes, we were able to trap it under my jacket and safely move it to the bushes on the side of the street. What an adventure!

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday with all of the zones in all of Bakersfield. It was really fun to be able to go and see everyone! I saw Hermana Luquette and she told me about all that was going on in Arvin. Also, we were able to learn a lot about the Book of Mormon and how to be more effective missionaries. I love learning from President Layton. He is truly an inspired man! When I go to conferences like that, it makes me realize how much I have left to learn even as I near the end of my mission.

Our district

When we came back from Zone Conference, we went to a lesson with a part-member family. The only member in the family is the less-active mother and they have been visited by missionaries off and on for the past sixteen years. We have had a couple of lessons with the husband since we have been here, but we weren't really expecting for anything exciting to happen. When we went over the lesson, we talked to the husband. Really, he talked to us for about an hour of all the things that have happened in his life. His son recently died and the family has been through a lot of trials in the past couple of years. By the end of the lesson, he was telling us that he wanted all of his family to get baptized and to go to the temple to get baptized for his son. The spirit was super strong! On Sunday, him and his entire family came to church! It was amazing to see. We are super excited to keep teaching them in the future.

The halo factory. Everyone in Delano works here.

This weekend, there was a baptism in the ward and all of the missionaries did a special musical number. I always love seeing baptisms and there was a sweet spirit there. I know that this church is true and that it does bless individuals and families. There is such a special spirit in missionary work and I love seeing how we can bless people's lives.

That is pretty much it for the week. We have been keeping busy and trying to keep cool. The summer is coming and it is starting to heat up a lot. I love talking to the people and getting to know their needs. The work goes on! I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Driving to Zone Conference