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

Week Sixty-Eight: Welcome to Delano!

How I feel about being in Delano. (just kidding). Hermana Galvez gave it to me. :)

Area: Delano Ward

Companion: Hermana Galvez

Well, this week has been a big one full of BIG changes, but I have been having a great time here in Delano. It really is a wonderful area and I feel so blessed that I get to be here. I can hardly believe that it has only been a week and we have already seen so many miracles.

Tuesday morning was when we had transfer meeting. After saying goodbye to the cockroach-filled apartment in Arvin, we headed off to Bakersfield and to transfers. The only problem was that it started raining really hard while we were on the way. When we got to the building where we were meeting up, it was pouring. To make it all worse, Hermana Galvez sprained her ankle a couple of weeks ago, so she was in a boot and couldn't walk very fast. We ended up getting soaked, but we eventually made it to Delano.

It has been so fun working with Hermana Galvez. She only has a couple of months on the mission, but she is a really good missionary and we have been working really hard these past couple of days. Delano is a wonderful area. The elders who left the area when we came in were doing a wonderful job and there are actually quite a few people that we are working with who are preparing for baptism. It has been so fun coming into the area because there haven't been sister missionaries in the ward for at least a couple of years and there haven't been hermanas for longer than that. All of the people who we talk to on the streets say, "I didn't know that there were girl missionaries" and we have been able to talk to a lot of people that way. It is great!

There have been so many miracles this week. Some of them have been small, but they are still good ones! For example, when we got to the apartment, we realized that we needed some new bathroom supplies like body wash and toothbrushes. We didn't know where we were going to find the time to go to the store and buy them, so we were going to find some time on Thursday. Then, on Wednesday night, we visited the home of a less active member. She joined the church a long time ago and hasn't been back in a while, but she loves the missionaries. She was super excited to learn that there were sister missionaries and she invited us over. When we went by, she gave us tons of stuff, including body wash and new toothbrushes. It was a tender mercy!

We also saw a couple of miracles with the people that we are working with. When we got into the area, we learned about an investigator of the elders named Victoriano. He had been taught all of the missionary lessons and really wanted to be baptized, but he is not married to his girlfriend, Luisa. The paper that the elders left us told us that they had barely been able to talk to Luisa while they had been teaching Victoriano and that she had been really closed off to the missionaries. When we stopped by their house, we started talking to Luisa and she was super nice to us. We were able to share a message with their entire family and they all came to church this week. It was nice to see!

Also, we got a referral from the elders on Tuesday. They had talked to a lady while she was walking out of her house and she was interested in learning more about the church. When they asked if they could come back, she said that she was only comfortable learning from the sisters. It was really lucky because we just came into the area. We went over on Saturday and had a really spiritual lesson. She told us about some things that were going on in her life and we were able to teach her about how she could find comfort through the Book of Mormon and coming closer to Jesus Christ. After the lesson, we invited her to come to church and she was a little worried because she didn't know how her children would behave. We told her that it would be okay, no matter how her children were and we told her that she was welcome to come. We didn't really expect that she would be able to make it, but when we called her on Sunday morning, she said that she was coming. She was able to make it and she really liked it!

Being in the Delano ward is really fun! All of the leaders here are great! The Ward Mission Leader here is wonderful and I think that I felt the spirit for the first time in Coordination Meeting on my mission. The ward council was also really good and we were able to get a lot of help from the ward. The sacrament meeting itself is really interesting as well. There are English speakers, Spanish speakers, and Tagalog speakers in the ward and we all just sit in sacrament meeting together. It was super fun to hear everyone singing the hymns because they just sing in whatever language they want. I loved being in the ward!

That is pretty much it for the week. It has been really good and we have been able to see so many good things happening. I was a little sad to leave Arvin, but I am so happy to be here in Delano. We even got to see the legendary McFarland USA (one of the members owns a pizza place there and we were able to get some for free!). I am so glad to be a missionary and to feel the love of the Lord so much! I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Last night in Arvin with Hermana Luquette