Week Seventy-Four: Tremendous Trio

Our new district

 Area: Delano Ward
Companions: Hermana Galvez and Hermana Ruiz

This week was pretty exciting and we have been working hard throughout the whole time. We have been able to see some really cool things as I have started to work in my first trio of the mission. Things are good here in Delano!

I guess to start out, I should talk a little bit about Hermana Ruiz, our new companion. She is really nice! On Tuesday morning, we headed out to Bakersfield and the entire time, we were wondering what she was going to be like. When we got to the training meeting, it wasn't hard to know who we were going to train because she was the only Spanish-speaking sister there. We knew that she was going to be a good companion the moment that we saw her! She is from Utah and has some Mexican heritage, but she is a language learner. It has been super fun to help her to learn a little bit of Spanish during the first week, especially because we have Hermana Galvez to help us both! :) It reminds me of my first couple of weeks in the mission. She is super excited to work and to learn, so it has been fun to go out and work hard during this week!

I got to see Hermana Luqette at the transfer point!

It is a little strange being in a trio. I never thought that I was going to have the chance to be in one, but now that I am here, it is super fun! It if really nice to be able to have three testimonies instead of just two and we are always talking and laughing. I already liked working with Hermana Galvez and like working with Hermana Ruiz. Sometimes, it is a little weird because there is never enough space on doorsteps for us all, but we manage to make it work. The other night, we were teaching one of our investigators and there was only one love seat for all of us. We just all squished in like sardines and sat really close together for the entire lesson (even though it was super hot in the house and we were all sweating). It has been fun!

We have still been teaching Eliseo (our eccentric investigator). This week, he invited us to come over to his house to eat carnitas. When we came, it turned out that he was having a giant family party. When we knocked on the door, they said that we couldn't come in and that we should come back later. When we said that Eliseo invited us, they let us right in and put us to work turning tortillas. It was all worth it because we had some bomb carnitas!

This week, we have been able to teach a lot of people. One person that we started teaching this week was a little old man named Gonzalo. He was a referral from the English elders and we talked to him a little bit last Saturday, but he was really busy and said that we could come back on Monday night. We only had a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, so we left that with him and didn't think anything else about it. When we came back on Monday night, he was waiting for us outside and said that he had read the pamphlet and told us about all of the questions that he had and the things that he understood. Then, he told us that he feels that he needs to be baptized and that he wants to come to church. It was really fun to teach him and he was super nice.

We have also still been working with Victoriano and things are going well with him and his family. This week, we invited him to come to church again and he said that he wouldn't be able to because he was going to work in the morning and later he was going to go up to Santa Maria in the afternoon to go to an Amway conference. We were really sad and when we went to church, we were praying for a miracle. When the service started, he wasn't there and we were sad. After the Sacrament was over, the priesthood opened up the doors to the chapel and Victoriano, his daughter, and his aunt were outside! It was an answer to prayer. Victoriano wasn't able to stay after the first hour, but his daughter and his aunt stayed for all three hours. We had never really talked to the aunt, but during the second hour there weren't enough people to do a Spanish Gospel Principles, so we decided to teach her the first lesson instead and then to take her on a tour of the church. It was super sweet and she told us that she liked the service.

This week was really good. We had a lot of fun and we saw some miracles. Things are going well here in Delano and I love being a missionary here. It was super strange starting my last transfer, but I am still working hard and it is good to have Hermana Ruiz here to instill us all with her greenie fire! I know that the gospel is true and that the gospel brings blessings! I hope that you have a good week!

Hermana Blau

This last one is a little funny. President told us recently to stop making signs in our pictures. The Zone Leaders and the District Leader were trying to demonstrate to us what we shouldn't do and Hermana Galvez's camera accidentally went off. This is the candid photo. :)