Leaving the Mission

This is an essay that was included in the last Bakersfield Mission newsletter Savannah received before heading home. They included an essay from an elder who had just arrived in the mission field and from Savannah who was getting ready to leave.

Hermana Blau arrived in the Bakersfield Mission February 15, 2016.


As I have neared the close of my mission, I have been given plenty of opportunities to look back on my time here and how I have changed. When I first got off the plane at the Bakersfield Airport, I had no idea that I was in for 18 months of learning and growing. I had never experienced an afternoon of walking in scorching heat, and I had no idea how to speak to random people who I had never met before. I was more than a little bit overwhelmed. I have experienced some of the greatest spiritual moments of my entire life as I have taught people who are now friends. I have also faced moments of trial where I have questioned what I was doing on a mission and if I would ever be able to be a good missionary. I feel that the mission is a roller-coaster of emotions, but through it all, I have had my faith strengthened. I learned that it is actually possible for a human being to survive walking on days when it is more that 115 degrees outside. I learned that even if you cannot fully speak to people, all people speak the language of the Spirit. I have prayed harder than I ever had in my entire life and seen real answers come from those prayers. I have felt joy as I have seen investigators who I have been working with for weeks finally come to church or finally start keeping commitments and making changes in their lives. More than anything, I have learned to apply the counsel found in Proverbs 3:5-6: 

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

—Sister Blau

Week Seventy-Nine: I'm Coming Home!

Area: Delano Ward
Companions: Hermana Galvez and Hermana Ruiz

WOW! This week was an amazing week to end off the mission. I can't believe that it has already been eighteen months. We have seen some AMAZING miracles this week!

We celebrated the fourth of July this week in typical missionary fashion -- we went into our apartments early to avoid all of the drunk drivers and did our studies. It was okay though, because we were able to eat a festive dinner with a member before hand and to watch the fireworks through the window of our apartment. The only downside was that the air conditioning in our apartment has been really flaky this entire week and it was out on Tuesday night. . . it was a really sweaty time!

The biggest thing that happened this week was the marriage of our investigators, Victoriano and Luisa. It was one of the most exciting things that has happened to me on my mission. When we first came here to Delano, the elder that was leaving the area told us that Victoriano and Luisa needed sisters. Victoriano had been learning with the missionaries for a couple of transfers, but had not been able to be baptized because he was living with Luisa and they weren't married. Luisa had never talked with the elders and she told them that she only spoke Mixteco The first time that we talked to Luisa, she told us that she wouldn't get married until they were able to go back to Oaxaca and have a big Catholic wedding in three years. Over the course of the last couple of months, we have been working with them and have seen a ton of miracles with the family. Ever since they decided to get married, they have been super excited!

This week, we spent a lot of time working with the family. One day, we were in talking to Victoriano's brother, Gabino, and teaching him about tithing. Right in the middle of the lesson, Victoriano and Luisa drove up in their car. They hopped out and and ran to the trunk and pulled out five or six live chickens. They had driven all the way from Bakersfield to get chickens for the mole they were going to make for the wedding and on the way back, the chickens had started to get heat stroke and to die. Victoriano started putting them in the kiddie pool to cool them off, but it wasn't working. They had to kill the chickens before they died so that they could cook them, so they started stringing them up right in the yard and cutting off their heads. The entire time, we were just watching them. Needless to say, we needed to invite the spirit again after that! :) It was super funny!

Speaking of Gabino, we have been working with him a lot and he was able to get his baptismal interview this Saturday. He passed! I am super excited for him. He is going to be baptized this Saturday (a couple of days after I leave, but it is okay!) He is going to be a really good member of the church.

On Friday, we woke up really early to go down to the departing temple trip in Los Angeles. It was really nice. I was with Hermana Perry again. It was a bizarre experience to be living what we talked about a year ago when we were companions. I learned a lot as I went to the temple and I am super excited to go back when I get home.

Biggest moment of the week was the wedding. We were running around all morning long helping them to set up. It was pretty sweet. Right before the wedding, we were at Victoriano and Luisa's house and they told us that they wouldn't have time to fill up balloons, so they asked us to go and get them filled with helium. We figured that we would have enough time, so we went to the flower shop. When they gave us the balloons, we pretty quickly realized that we didn't really have any space for them in our car . We ended up squishing them all in the back seat with Hermana Ruiz. It was a fun ride!

The wedding was so cute! Our stake president here drove all the way from Bakersfield to preform the ceremony because Bishop was out of town. It was really nice! He doesn't speak Spanish and they don't speak English, but they were able to have some headsets and someone to translate for them during the ceremony! It was so beautiful. I am so excited for them to continue to learn so that they can go to get sealed in the temple some day.

This has been a really strange week, but I am so happy! I have loved my experience as a missionary and I am sad that it is over, but I am also happy with all that I have done. I know that I have served the Lord and I don't regret my decision to serve a mission one bit. I love the work and I love the gospel and all of the blessings that it has given me and everyone that I have shared it with! I hope that you have a good couple of days. I will see you soon!

Hermana Blau

Week Fifty-Nine: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

This week was really good. We have been working hard down here in Arvin and we have been seeing lots of miracles through it all. I feel like everything has been going pretty well for us and we have been able to see some of our investigators really start to progress. Life is good!

This week was the last of our exchanges with the Hermanas. They are all really fun and I have been able to learn so much! Early on in this week, we went on exchanges with Hermana Martineau and Hermana Arceo. I was with Hermana Arceo, who is just finishing up with training. It was really fun to work with her and to spend some time talking to the people on the streets. We didn't really have very many plans for the last half of the exchanges, so we decided to head out and see what happened. In the morning, we knocked a couple of doors before we knocked on the door of a really old lady. She wasn't very interested in listening to us and said that she was busy. We offered to help her out with anything that she needed and she accepted. We ended up helping her to organize some things for a garage sale that she was having the next day. While we were working, she told us that her husband of fifty years had just passed away and that she was moving out of the house where she had lived for most of her married life to be closer to her children. After we finished helping her, we offered to share a message with her and she accepted. It was really nice to see how service softens the hearts of the people. We were able to talk with her and help her to find Heavenly Father's comfort. Charity really is the true love of Christ! Also, she let us pick out anything she wanted from her garage sale, so I got a sweet proselyting bag out of it! :)

Later, while I was still with Hermana Arceo, we went to go visit a couple that we had talked to a couple of weeks ago. We had a couple of hours, so we decided to park a couple of streets away so we could talk to the people who we met on the streets. We started out walking and working our way towards our original purpose, but we kept meeting people who were walking. They told us that we could talk to them while they were walking, so we would follow them all the way across town. We were able to meet a couple of cool people that way. It was really fun. We started walking up an alley to get back to the main road and we discovered that the alley was full of houses as well. We found whole neighborhoods that we had never seen before. Arvin is always full of surprises. I think that I could walk around for three years and not talk to all of the people who live here!

It has been raining a ton! I never thought that I would have to deal with quite so much rain when I learned that I was going to Bakersfield. Everyone on the streets tells us that all of the dams in California are breaking. Here in Arvin, there is a ton of flooding. The other night, we had an appointment with someone that we met on the street. We parked next to where we thought her house was and prepared ourselves to get out of the car. It was raining as hard as I have ever seen it rain out here and it was really cold. We figured that we would run to her house and run back to the car, so we got up the courage and got out of the car. When we started looking for her house number, we realized that we were on the wrong street. I figured that it wouldn't be that far of a walk, so we decided to start walking instead of getting back in the car. It turns out that it was a little ways away from where we were. It wouldn't have been that bad if we hadn't have been trudging through the rain. When we got to the lady's house, she told us that she was getting ready to get in the shower and that she couldn't meet with us. We thought that it was all for nothing that we got all wet and we started walking back to the car. On our way back, one of the people who works in the Subway that we go to all the time pulled up beside us in her car and offered us a ride. We were close to our car by that point, so we told her that we were fine, but we took a little time to share a little bit of the message and to give her our card. She told us that she had met with missionaries before and that we could come by her house. We went back to the apartment cold, but happy!

We also went on exchanges with Hermana Zambrano and Hermana Weaver during the later part of the week. I was with Hermana Weaver, who is just starting out on her mission. It was really nice to be able to work with her. She is a super sweet hermana and she likes to work hard. We were able to teach a couple of our investigators and we had a really good time!

The other day, we got a call from a random number. It was a lady who told us that she had learned from missionaries before and that she wanted us to come by. We didn't know her, but we decided that it couldn't hurt. We were a little late and we were having a hard time finding her house, but we finally found the address that she had told us. We knocked on the door and a woman answered. She told us to come in and she gathered all of the family around. We asked her how long ago it was that she learned from missionaries and she told us that she had never seen missionaries before. It turned out that it wasn't the person that we had talked to on the phone and that no one with that name lived in that house. The lady was super nice and pretty interested. Later, we tried to call the person who called us and she never answered us back.

Things have been going well for us here and I have been able to see many miracles. I know that the Lord is in charge of this work and that he leads us to where we need to be. I am so glad that I am able to be here on a mission! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ! I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Week Fifty-Six: #juliohunt2017

A fishtail braid Hermana Luquette did for me. My hair is getting long!

 Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

This week was busy and I felt like everything has been changing. I feel like missionary work has been revolutionized, and I am right on the ground floor. We have also seen GIANT miracles throughout the entire week. The rain has finally ended this week. That means that the flooding is down and everyone is getting back to work and things are getting back to normal.

We got a ton of new hermanas in the mission this past week. It has been really fun to get to know all of them. All of the other hermanas in the mission are either training or in training, so it has been interesting to get to watch over all of them. It is really exciting that there is so much new blood in the mission. It brings a fire to the work that allows the spirit to work strongly in the work!

Hermana Luquette and me with Hermana Weaver who just came in the mission and is the trainee of Hermana Zambrano. That makes me a mission grandma!

One of the strangest changes of the week has been to the missionary schedule. We no longer plan at night and we are allowed to do our studies at the time of the day that works best for us. It is really liberating and we have been able to sleep more than I have in the past year. I feel a lot more peaceful in my missionary work now, and we have been doing everything with a lot more energy now!

One of the biggest things that happened this week involved Julio. We knew that he was going to be moving to Lamont, and he told us a little bit about where he was going, but he didn't know his address before he left. We had phone contact with him several times before he left on Tuesday and when we called that day, he told us that he was in the process of leaving and that he would call us after he got to Lamont. After that, we weren't able to contact him. We tried calling several times and he never picked up. We suspect that he lost his phone while he was moving. We were starting to get a little worried, so we went over to his old house. He used to live in a little shed beside a bigger house, so we knocked on the door of the big house and inquired about Julio. The old lady who lived there told us that he is currently in Mexico. We refused to believe that, so we went back to the house later and talked to the son of the owner of the house and he told us that Julio was in Lamont but that he had no idea where he was. After consulting with the Zone Leaders, we decided to team up with the elders in Lamont and go on a Julio hunt #juliohunt2017. After district meeting, we had one hour to go to Lamont and look for Julio. We only knew that he was behind a restaurant called La Mina. When we got there, we discovered that there were approximately 10,000 people there and we were in for a long search. We said a prayer and asked for the direction of the spirit and set out. I felt like Nephi when he went into Jerusalem being led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand what he would do. We started asking people in their houses if they had seen a strange old man named Julio, and nobody was able to point us in his direction. Anytime we saw an old person on the street we chased them down and discovered to our disappointment that it was not him. The hour that we had for our Julio hunt was going by really quickly, and we only had a few minutes left. In a last ditch effort, we decided to go to the restaurant and ask them if they had seen him there. The people behind the counter said that they didn't know any Julios, so we were out of luck. Hermana Luquette had to go to the restroom, so we took a little break right before we started heading back to Arvin. While she was in the restroom, my heart was full of prayer that we would see a miracle and that we would be able to find Julio. Hermana Luquette was also praying in the restroom. When she was done, we walked out of the back corner of the restaurant and JULIO WAS STANDING RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE!!! I am sure that everyone in the place must have thought that we were crazy because we started freaking out and asking him all sort of questions. He showed us to where he was living and gave us some sodas (just like old times!). It was such a miracle to me. He was living a long way away from where we were looking and it was in bit of a hidden place. I really don't know how we ever would have found him in all of the town if it weren't for the hand of the Lord right at that moment. Because he wasn't able to have any preparation this week, we decided to postpone the baptism for another week or so, but I am just so happy to know that Heavenly Father is looking out for all of his children and that he wants for everyone to have the gospel.

The two of me with the dog are with a little dog named Fifi who belongs to one of the recent converts in our area, Hermana Sigala. 

Hermana Luquette and I with Hermana Sigala.

This week has been such a witness to me that Heavenly Father loves us so much and that he is personally involved in our lives. I know that he is looking out for us and that he really does answer our prayers. I have such a testimony of the truthfulness of the work. I am so happy to be a missionary! I hope that you all have a good week and that everything goes well for you!

Hermana Blau

Week Fifty-One: Baptisms and Temple

Lucas's Baptism

Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

This week was a doozy. Christmas was the best and we really did see a TON of miracles during the course of the week. The spirit of the Christmas really does exist!

We started out this week without a P day because we went to the temple on Tuesday. We spent that time trying to contact some referrals that we had been trying to see for a while. One of the referrals was for a couple of old ladies that a random man on the street told us to go and talk to. When we got to the door, we started talking to the lady and she wasn't super interested because she and her sister were about to have dinner. She was about to tell us to come back another time when her sister came up to the door and invited us in to eat. We weren't about to turn down a free meal, so we agreed. They actually ended up giving us some pretty yummy lentils and egg tacos and we were able to share about the Restoration afterwards. They invited us back last night. We went after our Christmas dinner with a member, but we discovered that they had prepared us an entire dinner for our visit. We tried to tell them that we just ate, but they told us to just eat one taco. That led to us each eating three tacos and some tamales. It was fun!

On Tuesday, we went down to the temple in Los Angeles. It was super fun going down there and seeing all of the hermanas from around the mission. I love the temple so much and it was a super spiritual experience. I am so grateful for all of the blessings in my life that come from the temples that we have!

At the Los Angeles Temple

It was a little swished in the back seat on our way to the temple.

Right after the temple trip, we went on exchanges with Hermana Zambrano and Hermana Badger. I was with Hermana Zambrano again! I always love going with her and getting to talk and work with her again. It is super fun seeing all of the ways that she has grown over the time that we haven't been together. She is super sweet. While we were out, we decided to go see one of our recent converts. When we went over to her house, she had some company over but she let us in. She invited her friend to listen to us, so we started sharing about the Restoration with her friend. It turns out that she already knew about all about it because our recent convert had already told her everything. She was already planning to come to church. It was super cool to see the member missionary work!

Friday was probably the biggest day of the week. In the beginning, we had a morningside with the Laytons. When we got there, we all had a big breakfast. Afterwards, we sat down and watched It's A Wonderful Life as a mission. It was so good. It was really strange watching a worldly movie for a little bit, but it is one of my favorite movies of all time, so it was a wonderful Christmas treat. Afterwards, we did a gift exchange. During the whole time, I felt so happy. It was nice to know that Christmas is a happy time, no matter where you are!

The hermanas at the morningside.

On Friday night, we had the baptisms of our investigators Jesse and Lucas. It was super cool. I was so happy that I was able to be a part of teaching them and helping them to progress to the point where they could enter into that covenant. We have been working with Jesse for a while to help him to overcome his doubts and his fears, so it was super special to see him get baptized. His mother is a member of the church, so he has heard about the gospel for a long time, but he was finally able to see all the ways that it could bless his family, so he decided to take the step of baptism. Lucas was super prepared right from the beginning and he has been super excited about baptism for a long time. Being able to teach him really let me see the way that the Lord has been preparing people. There were a ton of events that were leading him to the gospel before we ever talked to him. I felt really blessed to be able to teach them and to watch their baptisms and confirmations!

Jesse's baptism with Hermano Rodier, who performed the baptism.

Saturday was a super interesting day. We were walking around outside during the day because we didn't have a ton of appointments. It was cold and people were not acting super interested, so we were feeling a little discouraged. Our one hope was that we could convince someone to watch Joy to the World with us. It is about 45 minutes long, so we thought that we could combine a good teaching experience with an opportunity to get out of the cold. Before we left the car, we prayed that someone would let us watch the movie, but everyone we talked to was semi-rude to us. While we were talking to a group of men fixing their car, it started to hail. We thought that it was just the cherry on the ice cream to our day. Right after that, we saw a lady unloading groceries from her car. We offered to help her and she let us. After we brought in a couple of things, she asked us to share a scripture. We did and then offered to share the movie with her and her family. To our surprise, she said that we could. We were able to talk to the family until our next appointment and they were super nice. It was a Christmas miracle.

Exchanges with Hermana Zambrano

Christmas day was super nice. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice that he made for us. I am so happy that we can have happiness in this world through Christ and I am so grateful for this gospel in my life. I love you all and I hope that you have a happy last week of the year!

Hermana Blau

Christmas skyping with the family!

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

Week Forty: Half-Way Done!!!

The cutest moment of my mission! A less active family in our ward has two baby
kittens, and they let me feed them! My face looked like that for the entire time. SO CUTE!

This week was pretty good. We were able to see a lot of miracles. One of the biggest ones is that I completed the first half of my mission! It seems like it was only yesterday that I was just starting out in the MTC. I can hardly believe that I am here! I still feel like I have a ton to learn and that there is so much that I can improve, but I can see that I have changed a lot over the past nine months. Time is crazy!

One of the miracles this week happened when we decided to go contacting in the park. It was only after we got to the park that we realized that it was two in the afternoon on a weekday and that no one was there. We decided to go knocking in the houses around the park instead. In the first house that we knocked on, we met a lady who was super excited to see us. It turns out that she had learned from the missionaries twelve years ago in Los Angeles and that she loved the church. She kept calling us her princesas and  invited us in to eat. Because we were late to our dinner appointment, we made a return appointment and left. When we went back, she invited us right in and we taught the first lesson. In the middle, we were asking her why she stopped meeting with the missionaries. It turns out that she had talked with one of the members and they had told her that the church didn't believe in using medicine and that she should give all of the money that she would have spent of medicine for a really horrible disease that she had and give it to the church. She was upset about that and decided to stop meeting with the missionaries even though she loved them and the church. We were able to tell her that we didn't believe in that. After we told her that, she looked at us with tears in her eyes and told us that we didn't know what a difference that made for her. The spirit was super strong! She is really excited to meet with us now and really wants to move forward.

Me and a bag of Chick Fil A that we found outside of our apartment.
It had two chicken sandwiches and kids toys. We don't know if it was left for us,
so we left it. Nobody came and took it, so it is still a mystery why it was there.
We threw it away in the end. Que triste!

We have been getting a lot of food recently. I don't know what has been happening recently, but every time that we leave someone's house, they give us a giant bag of food to take home. One of the members of the bishopric works for Nabisco, so he gave us a giant bag of crackers and cookies after we left his house. Last night we met a lady who works in la uva and she gave us giant bags of grapes when we left (even though she wasn't super interested in learning from us). We hardly had to spend any money on groceries this week. Que milagro!

All of the sisters in our zone at an In N Out.
One of the benefits of serving on the west coast!

This week, we have had a couple of people chase us down to talk to us. One of them was a person that we talked to at the beginning of last transfer named Reyes. We had gone back to his return appointment and almost gotten eaten by his vicious dog. While we were walking past his house late at night, he was sitting with his friends outside. He chased us down and told us that he hadn't been able to meet with us because he had lost his teeth while he was working and felt embarrassed. He told us that he was still interested in learning, so we went back to talk to him later that week and had a really good lesson.

The other night, we were walking through the area by our house late at night right before going home and I thought that I heard someone call my name. I looked around and didn't see anyone, so we kept walking. Right before we walked in the door of our house, we got a call from a man that we had talked to a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that we had walked right past his house and he wanted to talk to us again. He had called my name, but we didn't realize what had been happening. We were able to go back last night and talk to him and his family. They were super cute and the lesson went pretty well!

I guess that is pretty much it for this week. We have been seeing really good things in the area and we have been working with some super cool people. I have definitely been able to see the hand of the Lord in the work and I love being a missionary!

I hope that you all have a good week and that fall is going well. It is just starting to show up here. I love you all!

Hermana Blau

Our zone after our zone training meeting.

Week Thirty-Nine: The Perfect Storm

On exchanges with Hermana Martineau

Area: Buena Vista Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Zambrano

This week was an interesting one. I really think that I have been able to grow and see the hand of the Lord in the things that we have been doing. It is always good to have a spiritual high from General Conference.

This week, we had exchanges. I left with Hermana Martineau and travelled up to Arvin (always a fun place to be). It is just a couple of homes, a lot of dirt, and is surrounded by grape fields. It was a pretty good exchange. Right in the middle, we started talking to a weatherman. While we were telling him about the Restoration, he looked at the sky and noticed that it was quickly darkening and that there was lightning flashing a couple of miles away. I guess that he was scared of lightning, so he ran inside his house. We were walking back to the car when we noticed that the dust was starting to blow a lot. We made it to the car and started driving to a member's house to find shelter, but the dust was so bad that I couldn't see the road and we had to pull over. Then it started to pour down rain. The rain mixed with the dust in the air and so it started to rain down mud. It was pretty much the strangest weather that I have experienced in my entire life. We finally made it to the member's house. When we got there, one of her nonmember friends was there and we were able to teach her as well. It turned out to be a pretty good lesson. When we left the house, the sky was clear, there was a rainbow, and you could see the mountains that are normally hidden by pollution. It was pretty miraculous.

While we were walking around the other day, we talked to a young man. He said that he was busy and that we could come back later that afternoon. We were a little skeptical, but we went back later and talked to him. He said that he is going through some really hard things in his life right now and that he wants to come closer to God and to learn more of him. We sat and talked to him for a long time about the things that are going on in his life and how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help him. I have really gained a testimony lately about how every single person on the earth can benefit from learning about and coming closer to Jesus Christ. It really is amazing!

One morning, we were walking down the street in the outskirts of the city when we heard banda music coming from behind one of the houses. Hermana Zambrano thought that there might be another house behind the one we could see from the road, so we decided to go check it out. It turned out that it was just the backyard of the house we could see (imagine that!) but we decided that it would be too strange to walk away once they had seen us, so we walked right into the backyard. We decided to steer clear of the drunken poker game that was going on in the barn, but we were able to talk to someone who was sitting outside. After avoiding his drunk friends, we were able to get his information and set up a time that we could see him again. We went back to see him yesterday and started talking to him. It turns out that he is a war veteran and that he has been struggling with some issues relating to that. When we told him about the message of the Restoration, he was super excited that there are modern day prophets. It made me think about how we are guided to do some strange things sometimes. I guess Heavenly Father knows what he wants to have happen.

Speaking of guidance, General Conference was amazing! I feel like all of the talks were speaking directly to me. I loved the Saturday Afternoon session. I feel like the entire thing was all about missionary work and how we can help others to have the same joy that we experience. We were able to help one of our investigators to watch the talk the President Monson gave and he said that it was incredible and that you couldn't deny that he was speaking the truth. I second that! I love that we are able to receive direction from God through the modern day prophets.

That is pretty much it for the week. I really love the mission and I can't believe that I am already nine months in. I feel like I just came here, but I know that I have been growing and changing so much. I wouldn't change it for the world! I hope that you all have a good week back home!

Hermana Blau

The dust storms. Scary!

Week Thirty-Two: I'm a Trainer Now

Area: Buena Vista Ward
Companion: Hermana Zambrano

This week was super interesting. I met my new companion, Hermana Zambrano, on Tuesday and we have been getting to know our new area. It is super cool and really crazy.

On Tuesday morning, we went to the stake center where we normally do transfers. Right when we got there, we got to know the two new Hermanas in the mission. We still didn't know would be going with Hermana Perry and who would be going with me, so it was a little nerve wracking until we found out. After a little meeting, I went with Hermana Zambrano and Hermana Perry went with the other hermana. Hermana Zambrano is super cool. She is from San Fernando and went out with the missionaries almost every day when she was at home. She is a native Spanish speaker as well because she lived in Ecuador until she was 12. It is like I am barely training!

When we left from the transfer meeting, the Assistants handed us our new phone and the keys to our car. They didn't tell us what our car was going to look like, so we went out to the parking lot and started to wander around trying to find it. We looked all over and couldn't find any cars that looked like they should be ours, so we walked in and asked one of the Assistants to help us find it. He took us out to the parking lot and showed us to a giant pickup truck. One of the areas up in the mountains in the north of the mission was closed, so we were chosen as the companionship that would get their truck. It is quite a sight to see two sister missionaries climbing into a four door pickup! All of the elders in our districts are jealous.

When we got to our new apartment, we realized that we didn't even know what our area boundaries were because they had recently formed the area out of two others. We went to turn on our phone so that we could call our Zone Leaders, but we soon found out that the phone was not activated and that we needed another working phone to activate the number. Luckily, the Zone Leaders stopped by after a little bit and were able to help us out.

Hermana Zambrano is super diligent and hard working. I have really enjoyed the past couple of days. When she came out, she was a little sick. On the second night, she started to feel super bad, so we called the mission medical elder and he told us to go to the doctor the next day. Don't worry, it looks like she is going to live! They put her on some medicine and it looks like everything will be fine.

It has been really interesting exploring this area. It seems like it wouldn't be that much different from my last area because it is only about 20 minutes away, but it is like a whole new world! There are a lot of Hispanic people down here, but there are also a lot of people from India. I feel like we knock one door and it is English, the next door is Spanish, and the next is the people from India. It is really interesting. During the beginning of the week, we were ending up in a lot of areas where there weren't a lot of Hispanic people, but we are starting to understand where all of the good areas are now. Adventures!

One of the coolest things that happened this week. We were walking down the street when I decided that I would like to have a bottle of water. We saw this group of people sitting on their lawn, so we went up to ask them. When we got there, it turned out that one of the people was an extremely active member of the church down in Mexico and that she was visiting with her niece. I guess that the niece had always wanted to talk to missionaries, but they had never stopped by. Her son had also talked to the missionaries before and was super interested in learning more. We taught them about the Restoration right there and the spirit was super strong! They went out of town this weekend, but they said that they would love to learn more and that they were super excited to keep meeting with us. It was a super miracle for our first week in the area!

That is pretty much it for this week. We have just been trucking along. I am super glad that I am here and that I am able to serve the people in this area! I hope that everything is going well at home! I hope that you have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Week Thirty-One: Miracles

Me with Rocio, our investigator. She is super cute and really nice.

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

This week was CRAZY!!! It hasn't been as hot lately (we have been chilling in the upper 90s. I think that I am slowly going crazy. . . I am going to get home and be immune to the heat!). This week is transfers. I will keep you in suspense for just a little bit.

This week, we had a couple of really cool experiences. We were walking in one of the lower parts of our area and we decided to walk across the road to an area where we had never been before. When we walked across the road, we saw a house and felt that we should knock there. Before the actual door of the house there was a little sun room. Hermana Perry suggested that we should walk into the sun room and knock on the actual door. That is what we ended up doing, but we felt a little strange about it. When we knocked on the door, it opened up right away and the people inside told us to come right in. We thought that they must have not known who we were, so we told them that we were missionaries. They said that they knew and that we could come in.

When we walked into the house, we thought that they were going to end up being ax-murderers or something because nobody ever lets us into their house like that. While we sat down, one of the people went to get her sister. When the sister walked in, she said, "I am so glad that you are here. I have been praying for the missionaries to stop by!" She told us that she and her sister were less active members who hadn't been to church in a couple of months because they didn't know where to find one. I guess that they have been driving around Bakersfield, trying to find a church building. Guess who knows where church buildings are in this area? We were able to tell them about the services here. It was super cool. I think that we are going to try and start teaching the other people in the family as well. Miracles!

This is for Dad. We saw a big old field of them as we were walking,
and it made me think of you!

Another day this week, we were going to check up on an investigator who we met the other day. When we got to her house, her husband opened the door. He has a bit of a drinking problem, but he doesn't want to drink anymore. He told us that he knew that we could help him and that he wanted to change his life. We have high hopes for him!

Funny story of the week: Today, I decided to try something that I have only heard about in legend. . . Chocoflan. It is pretty much flan on top of chocolate cake. I have been wanting to try it ever since I was with Hermana Gonzalez. She used to talk about it all the time. Today, I decided that it was the day. We went to Vallarta to buy a slice. I can't even describe my joy as we were driving back to the apartment. I even put it on a fancy plate. When I took the first bite, I discovered to my horror that it was probably one of the worst things that I have ever eaten in my life. The flan was really rubbery and the cake was super dry. It was the most depressing moment of my entire mission. We are still holding out the hope that it was just because we bought the cake from Vallarta.

The piece of chocoflan. That was the last moment of happiness that I felt
before all my dreams were ripped away.

Big news for this week. . . I actually won't be here to teach any of those people who we talked to. I am going to be going to open a new area in the southern part of Bakersfield (Buena Vista) that has been closed for Hermanas for a while. Hermana Perry will be staying here in La Cresta and we will both be training! It is going to be super crazy and we have been going a little insane thinking about it, but we are both really excited. Our two trainees will be coming into the mission today and we will be picking them up tomorrow. This next transfer will be crazy. All of the Hermanas around the mission have been joking that I am doing a mission tour. There are only two hermana areas that I haven't been to yet. Soon, I will have served in them all! I am sad to be leaving Hermana Perry. This last transfer has been a blast. Hopefully, the next transfer will be just as good.

Well, that is pretty much it for the week. I am super glad that I am out here in Bakersfield. I know that this is the best place that I could ever be in this moment. I have really been able to see the hand of the Lord this week! I know that he knows what we need to be doing and where we need to be going to help the people who need help right now. I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Hermana Perry and I decided to take pregnancy pictures because we are about to have babies in the mission. That might just be a mission thing, but I think that they turned out pretty good. [Mom note: When a person trains a new missionary, they sometimes refer to them as their "baby." That's why they decided to take the fake pregnancy pictures before they meet their "babies" this week.]