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 Fifty-Eight: Exchanges

Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

This week was interesting. It was full of even more exchanges and Zone Conference. We have been really busy, but we are working hard and we have been seeing miracles every day!

Our first exchanges of the week were with Hermana Torres and Hermana Dye from up in Little Rock. Hermana Torres and I had a really good night and we were able to talk to a lot of people. We had a couple of appointments, but most of them fell through at the last moment and we ended up walking around in the rain for a while. I liked it because it made me feel like an authentic missionary! :) The good thing about Arvin is that there are always people outside on the streets, even when it is dark and rainy.

We had exchanges again at the end of the week with the Hermanas from Esperanza who are in a trio and I went with Hermana Badger and Hermana Galvez, a new missionary. It was really fun. It makes me a little sad that I have never really experienced the trio life for real. We had lessons with almost all of our investigators, so it was nice to be able to teach that much.

Because Julio lives in Lamont now, we are letting the elders that work there teach him his recent convert lessons, so we had a combined lesson to hand him off. I was still with Hermanas Badger and Galvez and the elders are currently in a trio as well, so there were a ton of missionaries at the lesson. We decided to teach Julio about prayer and to teach him how to say simple prayers. We have taught Julio a million times that we pray to God, but each time that Julio prays, he prays to Jesus Christ. We decided to teach by demonstration, so each one of the six missionaries that was there said a short, simple prayer. Then, we went over one more time how to say simple prayers and we asked Julio to say one. We all had our fingers crossed that he got the lesson, but he again addressed his prayer to Jesus Christ. There was an audible groan from all of us. He is a work in progress, but he is still happy to be baptized!

This week, during planning, we decided to shake things up a little bit. Normally, we look through our records for people who stopped learning from the missionaries a while ago and plan them in to see. Normally, they are either not home or not interested, so we decided that we were going to call the numbers that are listed on their records. The first person that we called that way was named Refugio. He was taught by the missionaries here right before I came to Arvin. When we called to set up the appointment, he was super excited and told us that we could come over that night. We went to see him and he told us that we could sit and talking to him on a tree stump that was in his yard. I felt like I was in a fairy tale or something. He told us that he didn't know why the other missionaries had stopped coming by and that he wanted to be baptized. We asked him if he still wanted that and he said that he did. He is super cute and has a lot of faith. He has trouble reading, so we have gone over every day since then and read from the Book of Mormon with him. On Saturday night, he told us that he wouldn't be able to go to church this week because his boss told him that he had to work. We told him that we understood, but we were praying with him for a miracle that would let him come to church. On Sunday morning, right before church, he texted us and told us that he got off of work earlier than he thought that he would and that he was able to come to church. He got there a little bit late, but he really liked it!

Things are going well here. I am so happy that I have been given the chance to serve a mission here in Bakersfield and to meet all of the people that I have. I love working here! Every day, I am able to see the blessings of God on the work and that he really cares about us all. I love the gospel and I love being a missionary. 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: Christmas Tamales

Me supporting Dad's Mizzou graduation

Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

This week was crazy and a lot happened. It is still getting a little colder every day, but I am sure it is nowhere close to what you are experiencing in other parts of the world. Things are really going well down here and we have been seeing lots of miracles!

Goodbye Hermana White

I guess that the biggest difference of this week is that Hermana White left for home and that I am now companions with Hermana Luquette. It was super strange saying goodbye to Hermana White. She and I had some really good times together and it is really strange to think that she isn't in the mission anymore, but I am sure that she is going to be doing good things. The night that she left, I spent a couple of hours working with some English sisters whose companions also were leaving. It was super strange being in English work for just a little bit, but it was fun! The next day, got together with Hermana Luquette. She is the nicest person that I have ever met and she really loves being a missionary. She was recently baptized, so she brings a really special spirit to the work and she has a really sweet testimony of the gospel. I really love working with her!

Hello Hermana Luquette!

This week, I realized just how close we are to Christmas. I don't think that I really noticed that the holidays were upon us until planning day. Christmas is next week! I am so excited. We have been trying to focus our contacts on the Christmas spirit. We have started opening all of our door contacts with caroling. The first time that we did that, the door we knocked on opened and the lady inside started telling us that she wasn't interested and that we should go away. When we started singing, she listened to us and was super nice to us. We were able to share a little bit with her. I think that the spirit really speaks to people through song.

We have been able to teach a lot of really interesting people this week. One of the coolest new people that we found belonged to a less active/part member family. We recently found the husband who is a member and we thought that the wife was also a member. We went over one day and found that she wasn't. We started talking to her and she was super receptive. She told us that she felt the spirit when we were talking and that she wanted to find a new church that would make her feel the peace of God. We were able to teach her about the Restoration and she was super excited. She told us that she would be reading the Book of Mormon right after we left her house.

We have been teaching a lot of lessons this week. One of our investigators, Julio, is just a little strange. He has been coming to church and progressing pretty well, but is an odd old man. We were in a lesson with him the other day and we asked him to say the prayer. He stood up and moved over to the wall of his house. Then he scratched his back against the wall for a straight minute while he was keeping straight eye contact with us. After that, he said a really beautiful prayer. In another lesson that we had with him, he gave us hot chocolate and told us to put baby formula in it. I don't know if he knew what it was, so that is the story of how I drank baby formula for the first time in 19 years. He is a card.

This week, we had our ward Christmas party. It was super fun. We ate a ton of tamales and drank atole. It is really interesting being able to see the holidays from the perspective of a different culture. I am so exited for Christmas!!

On Sunday, we were going around doing visits to get our investigators to come to church. While we were walking down the street, we started talking to a man. I guess we talked to him a couple of weeks ago, but he told us that he would be coming to church. We didn't really believe him, but we invited him anyway. When we got to church, he was sitting there and talking to all of the members. He said that he really liked it and that he wants to come back next week. The people here in Arvin are super cool!

That is just about it for this week. I am super excited for Christmas (I don't know if you all could tell) and I am sure that the Holidays will be a great time for everyone. I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas and that you remember the reason for the season!

Hermana Blau

Week Seventeen: An Answer to My Fast

Me with the Jehovah's Witness Umbrella.

Area: Littlerock Spanish Branch
Companion: Hermana Gonzalez

Missionary life is super strange and sometimes, it is super discouraging, but I have noticed during this week that it can also be really rewarding. I love being a missionary and getting to help the people in this area come closer to Jesus Christ and change to be better people.

This week has been pretty good as far as finding people goes. One of the really cool people who we have started to teach actually talked to us last week. I don't know if you remember the lady who asked us to come back and do more service for her, but we were able to go back and help her out. When we went, we started out by cleaning her kitchen and then she took us to her dining room table. She had a bunch of bills from about the past five years that were all in a pile. She asked us to help her to organize them. The only problem is that I couldn't really understand the way that she was telling us to arrange them because all of the instructions were in Spanish. After sitting around feeling a little useless, I decided to start putting the papers in piles according to year. When I finally got my pile all sorted, I looked around and realized that Hermana Gonzales and Mari (the lady who we were helping) had been sorting them according to company. Oh well. She really appreciated the help and asked us to come back the next day to teach her a lesson. It went super well and she asked a lot of good questions. I guess that service really is a good way to find people to teach! Who would have thought?

The other day, we were knocking on some doors in one of the neighborhoods where we normally go. As we were going down the street, we knocked on the door of a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. The mom came out to talk to us. She asked us what we believed and so we started talking about the Restoration of the Gospel. She stopped us right away and started grilling us for about 30 minutes about the Bible and our beliefs in God. It was super intimidating, especially because it was in English and Hermana Gonzalez doesn't really feel very comfortable talking when we teach in English. That meant that I was pretty much going up against the lady alone. I finally just invited her to pray and ask for her answers about our church that way. Hopefully, her heart will be softened.

That same day, about two doors down, we knocked on another door and a man came to the door. When we introduced ourselves, he told us that he was a Jehovah's Witness and that he wanted us to tell him about our beliefs. I thought that it was going to be just like the lady who we talked to before, but he was actually really nice. While we were talking in him, it started to rain. I don't know why, but I feel like any time it rains here, it pours. The guy let us borrow his umbrella, so we are going to go back and bring it back to him later.

This week, we have been working really hard to get our investigators to come to church. It is always really frustrating when Sunday comes around and the people who we thought were really progressing don't come. Because this Sunday was fast Sunday, I decided to fast for all of our investigators and for their church attendance. When the service started, I looked out into the crowd while I was playing the piano and nobody was there. I felt so let down and I thought that maybe my fast didn't work. After the opening hymn, Chris and Stephanie (the two children who have started coming to church with their mother, but who's father doesn't really want them to go to our church) came. Imagine my surprise when I saw that they were accompanied by their mother AND their father. I don't know if that means that he is 100% supportive, but I think that that is definitely a big step towards him letting them be baptized. It was a miracle and I am positive that it was an answer to my fast. I was just so happy and thankful to the Lord for his help in this work!

This week, I have seen the hand of the Lord in the work and the way that he is able to help us in our righteous endeavors. I love being a missionary and being able to bring the Gospel to others. I hope that I can become a better instrument in the hands of the Lord and that I will be able to find those people who are prepared!

I love you all at home and I hope that everything goes well for you this week. I am praying for you and I can feel your prayers for me being answered as well. Thanks for everything!

Hermana Blau

Week Four: Team Neelau for the Gold!

My MTC District

Area: Mexico MTC
Companion: Hermana Neeleman
Sister Neeleman's Blog Post: Hola!

I feel like no time has passed at all since I have last written home. I guess that is what happens when you only have five days between your P days. Honestly, time here is really strange anyway you look at it. The days always go by so slowly, but the weeks take no time at all. I hardly feel like I have almost been in the CCM for a month. It is really strange because all of the newer missionaries will ask us for advice when I feel like I can't possibly know any more than they do.

Nothing super eventful has happened this week. Mostly I have just been spending a LOT of time studying Spanish and the scriptures. One of the elders in my district probably described it best when he said that reading the Book of Mormon has become as exciting and relaxing to him as watching TV was at home. During this week, I finished Our Search for Happiness and I am already about 300 pages into Jesus the Christ. So fun!

On Friday, our district decided to have an English fast. Because my Spanish skills are what they are, it ended up being more of a speaking fast for me. In the middle of the day, I was starting to feel a little discouraged. Right before personal study, I decided to say a prayer. During the prayer, I asked what I could do to feel better in my progress and to obtain the Gift of Tongues. After I was done praying, I stayed where I was and pondered for a second. Then I felt really clearly the impression that I should go out and help others. That night, I was able to talk to one of the Hermanas in the zone that has really been struggling and share that experience with her. I think that it really helped her to talk about it and I felt better afterwards as well. I am so grateful that prayers are answered for each of us specifically.

On Saturday night, all of the people in our district were talking to our teacher about how we can't get through our nightly prayers without laughing. Then, they all blamed me for it! They said that my keeping my eyes open during prayers makes them giggly. After that, our teacher gave us a little lecture on how we should be reverent and examples for the younger missionaries. Afterwards, he asked us what we could do to have more reverent prayers. Someone suggested that we turn out the lights and turn so that no one is facing each other while we pray. That idea didn't end up being accepted. Instead, I have just decided to close my eyes (even though it has never been a problem before). [Mom note: Savannah has never closed her eyes during prayers. She always explained to us that the purpose of closing your eyes is to eliminate outside distractions and focus inward on your feelings and thoughts. She just felt like she was able to block out distractions even when her eyes were open. That seems to have carried through into the MTC ... until now].

Sundays are always my favorite days in the CCM. The classes are super spiritual and sacrament meeting is always nice (I didn't have to speak this week). Sundays are also the best because we have movie night. This week, we watched The Testaments. I don't know if I have ever seen a movie that is more quotable. I think that I was able to realize just what the environment at the CCM does to people because when the couple in the movie kissed, everyone was freaking out.

This afternoon, our district decided to have the first ever CCM Companionship Olympics. I think that it entails feats of strength and "Newlywed Game" type questions. I don't know exactly what is going to happen -- the elders are the ones who are writing the questions -- but I do know that team Neelau is going to take gold!

I am sorry that there was not much to talk about this week. Hopefully, I will be able to share more exciting news next week on my last P day in the CCM!

Hermana Blau

 what the climate has been doing to my legs. I have had a couple of people
come up to me and ask me what is wrong. I don't really know why,
but my legs have just started to scab up.
It's still better than being up in the snow and cold.