Week Forty-Two: Our Spanglish Primary Program

Area: Buena Vista Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Zambrano

This week was pretty good. It was a pretty tame week, but we were able to see a lot of cool things! Things are starting to cool down out here, so that is always nice.

One recurring theme that happened throughout the week was that we were able to help the ward a little bit with the primary program. One day, we went and did service at the Primary President's house making paper flowers for the center piece. I was able to help the Primary a little bit by playing the piano at one of the practices because the sister who was playing for the regular program couldn't be there. It was a super cute program. I think that there were more people at church than I have ever seen in this ward. It was a bit of a Spanglish presentation. Some of the songs were in Spanish and some were in English, but they were all super cute!

On one night this week, it was a little late and we didn't have very much to do, so we decided to try something different. I felt inspired that we should go and talk to the people at the taco stand by our apartment. We took the long way around. While we were walking along the road, we saw two young guys messing around on skateboards. We started talking to them and gave them our card. We finally made it to the taco stand. It turned out to be a super awkward experience and we didn't really find anyone interested to talk to. When we went home, we got a call from one of the young guys that we met. It turns out that he was actually interested in learning more. Sad news: he was English speaking. Hopefully, it will turn out well for the English elders.

We have been working a lot with the less active people in our ward. We have been trying to meet with all of the people in our area who could receive the Melchizedek priesthood, so we have been having some interesting experiences. We talked to one family who haven't been to church in a couple of years, but their daughter-in-law was pretty interested in talking to us.

One day this week, we were walking down the street late at night on our way to talk to one of the less active families in our area. Every time that it gets really windy, the dust starts blowing around. This makes the visibility remarkably low. We were walking down the street when it was super dusty and we saw someone coming up out of the distance. We couldn't really see what it was until it came right next to us. When the image became clearer, we saw that it was a person riding on a skateboard with a skull mask and a long green wig. I thought that we were walking in a nightmare! We were able to find shelter in the less active's house, so we didn't end up reenacting a horror movie.

We have been working with a lot of cool families recently, and things are going along really well with them. We have been able to see a lot of miracles while we have been teaching. The Lord really does direct His work! I love being a missionary and being able to tell people about how they can apply the Atonement in their lives.

I hope that you all have a good week and that you are able to have some adventures. Enjoy fall!

Hermana Blau

Week Forty-One: My Jurassic Park Moment

Area: Buena Vista Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Zambrano

Howdy y'all! This has been a really good week and we have had a lot of adventures our here in the great Bakersfield mission. We have been spending some time teaching some really cool people and we have had a lot of conferences, so we have been able to receive a lot of inspiration and instruction.

One of the big things that happened this week is that we have started going to a place called Pumpkin Center. Our area is on the very southern edge of Bakersfield, so we cover all of the area surrounding that edge of the city. There are several little towns in las afueras that we haven't been going to very much because we have been trying to visit the main parts of the town, but we decided that it would be worth our time to stop by this week. Pumpkin Center is about 10 streets in the middle of a bunch of dirt, but a ton of Spanish speaking people live there. Despite the name, there isn't a pumpkin to be seen. We were able to talk to a ton of people who were eating at the taco trucks and hanging out in their yards. It is a super fun place!

We found an investigator down there named Francisca. She is a young mother of two and her family is super cute. The first time we met her, we walked into her yard and knocked on her door. The second time, the gate was locked. Hermana Zambrano asked if there was a dog inside and I laughed her to scorn because we hadn't seen a dog the last time. I walked right into the gate and made it to the door of the trailer when I heard Hermana Zambrano say, "Hermana, look out. There is a dog!" I turned around a saw a giant pit bull out of the corner of my eye. It hadn't seen me yet, so I was trying to gauge my options between knocking on the door and hoping that they opened it in time and sneaking around the car to get to the gate while not letting the dog see me. I chose to walk around the car. The entire time, Hermana Zambrano was telling me that the dog was walking around the car and about to see me. Picture the scene in Jurassic Park when the little kids are running away from the raptors and you would know about how I felt in that moment. I had almost made it to the gate when I looked and saw that the dog was right behind me. In the end, it turned out that the dog was actually super nice and friendly. We walked back and knocked on the door and I could still feel all the  adrenaline. I was shaky for a couple of minutes after that! jaja

We didn't have dinner one night this week, so we decided to go and eat at one of the taco stands that are all around town. We parked outside of the one that we had chosen, and the lady who ran the stand came out and stared at us while we were in the car. We were a little concerned about it, but we walked out and started towards the stand. She called out to us and asked us if we were missionaries. Then she told us that she was a member of the church and had recently moved from El Salvador. She hadn't been able to find the church and she wanted to go back to church. It was super cool how the Lord put us in her path! Also, she made us super good pupusas!

We have started teaching a couple of really cool families recently. We went over to teach one family and after the lesson, they said that they had some cake for us. We were super excited! They brought the cake out and cut the pieces for us. When we asked them what kind of cake it was, we discovered that coffee was one of the ingredients. After a quick word of wisdom lesson, we told them that we couldn't eat it. I felt really bad because they had gotten the cake special for us, but after we told them, the hermana said that she totally understood and got out some chocolate cereal for us to eat. It was super funny and we all had a good laugh. They are super cool!

Things are going well in the work. We had a member of the seventy (Elder Cook) visit the mission and we had a really good training with him. The next day, the South Bakersfield Stake had it's stake conference and Elder Cook stayed to train the Stake. It was really cool to be able to hear from one of the general authorities and to receive teachings from him!

That is about it for this week. We have been having nicer weather down here. It rained last night for the first time in about six months, so we have been enjoying the water. I hope that you all have a good week at home!

Hermana Blau