Week Twenty-Nine: We Get to Wear Sombreros!

Me and mi novio [boyfriend], the Joshua tree!

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

Another week, another email. This week was super crazy and SUPER hot, but it was also really cool. We were able to see a lot of miracles. I think that I am just starting to get to the part of my mission where everything starts to go by really fast, because I can't even believe that everything has gone by so fast.

Speaking of the heat, I looked at the weather on the missionary website and it said that it was going to be about 110 degrees for the rest of the week. I heard that some parts of the missions are just randomly catching on fire. One part of our area was actually part of a pretty bad wild fire, but it is about 30 minutes away from everything else in our area, so we were really safe. I think that we will probably be okay in the heat. Recently, they changed the dress standards for missionaries so we can wear wide brimmed hats, so Hermana Perry and I went out last P day and bought some sombreros. It has completely revolutionized our street contacting. We actually have a lot of our appointments for the next couple of days set up for when it is going to be blazing hot, so I guess that the Lord has been blessing us in more ways than one. 

In the spirit of companionship unity (and also because our apartment is really hot at night and we were getting tired of wearing our pajama pants to bed. . .) Hermana Perry and I decided to get matching nighties! Here are a couple of pictures that we took of them in our excitement!

It is so interesting to be in Bakersfield for the summer. We have been getting so many grapes from the people that we talk to that work in the fields. I don't know how I ever survived without eating so many grapes! During the days, all of the streets are pretty dead and everyone asks us why we are out walking in the heat. When it cools down at night, everyone comes out and every street is a giant party. We see mariachi bands practicing and people practicing for their fancy party dances.

This week, we decided as a district to work on finding new people to teach. As part of that, we were doing a district fast. All week long, at least one companionship in the district was fasting at any given point. I have really gained a strong testimony of fasting on my mission. We were able to find a lot of cool people in the last couple of weeks.

One of the things that has also been helping us to find more people to teach is that we have started walking. . . a lot! Following our mission president's advice to use our car like a bus, we have been parking our car at least half a mile away from all of our plans and walking to them. It has made a huge difference. We talk to so many more people.

On Tuesday, we were about to go back to lunch after walking around all morning. Right when we got next to the car, we decided that we should try to knock on one more car. No one answered the door, so we were going to go back to our car when a guy walked out of his house and called out to us. We started talking to him and he was super cool. He learned a lot about religion and the Bible while he was in prison. We ended up talking to him for a long time. When we finished talking, he asked us if we could come by the next day. We were able to stop by again the next morning and we had another lesson. It went really well.

One night, we passed by an old man's house. We were talking to him and he said that he was a little busy at that moment but that he would love for us to pass by again. Most of the time, that is the signal that we aren't wanted there, but we set up a time to stop by again. When we went back for the return appointment, we weren't very hopeful, but when we knocked on the door, he opened it right up and we were able to have a really good lesson with him again.

We worked a ton this week, and we were able to see a lot of miracles in our area. We were really able to see the hand of the Lord and many prayers were answered. I love working with the people in this area. They are so loving and they always want to help us out! I am so glad that I get to help them to receive the Gospel in their lives!

I hope that you all have a good week and that you are able to stay cool! 

Hermana Blau

Week Twenty-Eight: Miracles

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

This week was really good. We saw a lot of miracles and we were able to talk to a lot of people. There was a lot of craziness, but by the end of the week, we were able to see the hands of the Lord in many different ways.

After emails on Monday, we went over to have dinner with some members of our ward. They live in the nicer part of our area and their house is pretty fancy, so we felt really cool while we were sitting in there. I asked to use the restroom and it was super nice. There was a really cool vase with flowers sitting on a table in the bathroom by the hand towels. After I had finished washing my hands, I went to dry them. While I was moving towards the towels, I accidentally knocked the vase off of the table and it instantly shattered into a million pieces. I was mortified. When I walked out, the members were really cool about it and they told me that it was not a very expensive vase, but I still have a little heart attack when I think about the sound that the vase made when I knocked it onto the floor!

We had interviews with President Layton on Wednesday. He is super cool and super in tune with the Spirit. While I was talking to him, I asked him for advise on how to find more prepared investigators, so he told us that we should start using our car like a bus. Based on that, we have started parking a couple of streets away from our front plans and then walking, talking to all the people that we see on the way. It has turned out to be a really cool thing for us. We have been able to meet a lot of cool people!

This week, we had an interesting adventure. We decided to go out to a rural part of our area where we had never been before. When we were there, we walked by a house with a gate that was hanging off of its hinges. We are never ones to pass up an opportunity to walk into a creepy yard, so we decided to go in. There was a ton of trash in the yard and there were about a million chickens and cats running around. When we finally got up to the door, it was wide open and creepy piano music was coming from the inside. We knocked on the door frame and I tried to ring the doorbell, but it was covered with spider webs. Nobody came to answer us, so we ended up leaving. It felt like part of a horror movie. When we were talking to the neighbors, they told us that a old lady lives there with about twenty snakes. 

The best part of this week was definitely church. We saw a lot of miracles there! One of our investigators comes to church every week. She was there even though she felt sick because she loves the feeling that she gets when she takes the Sacrament. We were a little late getting to Sunday School because we were getting information from a nonmember friend of a member who lives in our area who wants to start taking lessons from us. When we got to the class, we sat down in some empty seats in the front. When we sat down, we looked over and got a super big surprise. We had been teaching a lady named Dana for a while, but we decided to stop going by because she wasn't going to church or really progressing. When we sat down in Sunday School, she was in the seats next to us. When we asked her why she came to church, she told us that she had moved out of her boyfriend's house into the house of a close friend (who is also a member of our ward). When she was introducing herself to the Relief Society, she said, "Hi, I'm Dana. This is my first time here and I really like it!". It was super cool. We are going back to see her this week!

Things have been going along. I love being a missionary and getting to see all of the miracles that the Lord sends into people's lives. I am positive that he directs this work! Things have really started to groove and the days are flying by! I hope that you all have a good week and that everything goes well. I am keeping you in my prayers!

Hermana Blau

Week Twenty-Seven: Six Months Down!

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

This week was pretty good. There wasn't a ton that happened, but we were still able to meet a lot of interesting people, teach some pretty good lessons, and have a lot of good experiences.

One of the biggest things that happened this week was that we were able to meet the new mission president, President Layton, and his wife. They are super cool. They are very loving and want to help us do our best. They are really spiritual and I have already been able to learn a lot from being around them. I am excited to get to serve with them for the rest of my mission!

Another exciting event that occurred: I hit my first big mile stone. I have now been out on my mission for six months! It was fun being with Hermana Perry when that happened because we are the same mission age and we were able to celebrate together. Recently, we have been trying to make a goal to eat healthier and not go out to eat, but we threw that rule out the window for our six month extravaganza. We went to Sonic because they were having half priced ice cream cones and we enjoyed a little treat. I had the opportunity to think a little bit about what I have accomplished so far in my mission and all of the people that I have been able to serve. I am so glad to be a missionary right now and to have the chance to dedicate this short time to the Lord. I have already seen so much growth in my self and it has only been a couple of months. I am sure that it will be over before I know it, but I am really enjoying the opportunity to serve while it is here.

Our 6 month celebration pizzas!

This week, I was able to experience one of the greatest perks of working with the Spanish speaking people of Bakersfield: grapes! Most of the people who we work with work in the fields and right now it is grape season. I guess that they field workers are allowed to take home some grapes every day after work. That means that when we go over to teach our investigators, they often give us some of their extra grapes to take home with us. This week, one of our investigators gave us the biggest container of grapes that I have ever seen in my life. Hermana Perry and I have no self control when it comes to fruit, though, so they were all gone by the next morning. 

This week, we had exchanges. While we were on exchanges, I went with Hermana White to the park to have a lesson with one of the less active members in our area. After the lesson was done, we decided to try and talk to some of the people in the park. While we were talking to some ladies, I felt something strange on my feet. I looked down and discovered that I was standing on a giant ant hill and that the stinging ants were swarming on my feet. I think that the ladies that we were talking to must have thought that I was crazy because I jumped about a foot in the air and started shaking my legs around to try and get them off. Ever since then, I have been trying my best to avoid making any insects angry.

Hermanas Blau, White, Perry, and Martineau

While we were on exchanges, we were asking an English speaking person that we met about smaller communities in the area with lots of Spanish speaking people. He said that we should go try out in a little town called Edison. When we went home, we looked on the map and saw that Edison is in our area, so we decided to go and try. When we got there, we discovered that Edison is about six roads in the middle of acres of orange trees and grape vines. It is a little run down, but we were able to find some people to talk to and to do some good up there. It is definitely someplace where we are going to try back!

I guess that that is just about it for this week. We are just chugging along. We have an investigator who is actually pretty close to baptism and she will probably be ready in a couple of weeks. I will keep you all posted on that! The work keeps going and we see miracles every day! I love that I am able to participate in the Lord's work. I am growing a lot and I love that I am able to help others grow as well! Have a good week.

Hermana Blau

Week Twenty-Six: New Mission President

Our adventure that we took today in making tortillas. They actually turned out pretty nice.
Someday I'm going to be a sweet old abuelita!

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

This week was pretty good. It has really started to get hot. Unfortunately, in our car, the air conditioning goes out if it is over 100 degrees. We told the manufacturers about it, but I guess that it is something normal for the type of car that we drive. I feel like that is just about the worst design flaw that could ever exist in an air conditioning unit, but we just have to live with it.

Other than the heat, everything is going pretty well. The past couple of days, we have been trying to contact some referrals that we were given by one of the members from the Young Single Adult ward who lives in our area. We have been able to meet some pretty interesting people that way. We talked to one of the people who we were referred to, but he was super tired because he had just been working a night shift, so he asked us to come back another day. When we came back, we met his three daughters. One of them is about five and any time we walk down that street, she follows us around. She is super cute! It turned out that their dad wasn't very interested, so we don't go over to their house anymore, but they always talk to us when they see us walking down that street.

One day this week, our dinner appointment cancelled. We hadn't been expecting it, and it was the last day of June, so we didn't have any money that we could use to buy some food for dinner. We were a little concerned about what we were going to eat, but we decided to just continue on with our day and see what happened. While we were visiting with a member and his sister-in-law, they offered to feed us some quesadillas. They actually gave us quite a lot of them, so we were grateful and a little full. After that, we had a lesson with one of our investigators, Rocio, who works in the fields. Right now, it is grape season, so while we were over there teaching her, she gave us a huge bowl of grapes to eat. They were super good! After that, we were feeling even more full. While we were in the lesson, we got a couple of calls from one of our members. After we got out, they told us that they had made us food, so we went over to their house to have some more dinner. It was super good food! After we were done, we had had three dinners and I was so full, I could hardly walk to the car. I had to take a second to let all of the food settle in my tummy before we could go back out. I guess that just goes to show that the Lord will always take care of his servants.

This week, we were back on the street where the dog attack from last week happened and we were going to see a member. While we were there, the family who owned the dogs was back outside. We felt impressed to go back and talk to them some more. We walked up their driveway (making sure to avoid the dogs who were now safely chained up) and we met the mother of the family. We started to talk to her and she was actually super cool! She has had a hard life and has struggled with drugs and finding a stable relationship for a long time, but she really wants to become a better person and be a good example for her children. She said that she wished that she was more like us and we were able to teach her a little bit. She doesn't really speak Spanish, but she was super cool and we were able to tell the English missionaries about her. 

This week, the mission changed a lot. President and Sister Wilson are now home, so now our new mission president is President Layton. I haven't met him personally yet but I have heard tell that he is a giant man and that the only thing bigger than his hands is his heart. I guess we will have to find out. We have a Zone Conference this Thursday, so I guess that we will meet him there!

Well, that is about it for the week. Today we have all day Preparation day because the mission doesn't want us out proselyting with all the drunk and crazy people during the Fourth of July. We hardly know what to do with all of our extra time!

I hope that you all have a good week and that you can have fun during the Fourth of July. Make sure to light a firework in honor of me. Stay cool! I love you all so much.

Hermana Blau

A picture Hermana Perry took of me while I was driving. It is an adventure!

Week Twenty-Five: Hello, Bakersfield!!

Area: La Cresta Spanish Ward
Companion: Hermana Perry

This week was my first week in Bakersfield and everything is going great! It is super hot, but the people here are super cool and I love being companions with Hermana Perry. She is the greatest. We came out at the exact same time, so we already knew each other a little bit from the first day things. We are the youngest Spanish speaking Hermanas in the mission, so we have been having a great time and working a lot.

This week has been a scorcher! As soon as I got down here, the air conditioning in our apartment broke. It was so bad. The first night, I woke up completely drenched because it was so hot during the night. Weekly planning was almost unbearable because we were inside the apartment for a couple of hours. Luckily, we were able to contact the apartment management and they came by to fix it. I never appreciated the magic of modern technology until I felt that sweet air conditioning again.

This is a great area and we have been working really hard. We are in the La Cresta Spanish ward in East Bakersfield. There are a ton of Spanish speakers here. It is really nice and I have had lots of opportunities to work on the language. It is a little funny because Hermana Perry and I have about the same amount of experience in speaking Spanish, so living with the language barrier has been really fun. One day this week, we were calling one of our investigators to confirm our appointment with her. Towards the end, she said something that neither of us could understand. I thought that she had said, "I love you" which seemed a little weird, but I told Hermana Perry. She responded to Rocio (our investigator) "I love you, too!" She sounded really surprised. That was when we realized that she hadn't actually said I love you. Awkward! Despite that, we have been able to do pretty well with the language together.

We have been working really hard to follow the promptings of the spirit this week. When we get to any area, we pray to see what we should be doing and who we should talk to. We have had a lot of adventures and some really cool experiences.

One day, we were going to go and see one of our potential investigators. When we pulled over to the side of the road to pray, a lady walked out of her house and started looking at us really strangely. We finished praying and she started to walk towards our car, so I rolled down the window. She introduced herself and started talking to us. After a second, she told us that she was going to get into our back seat so that she could talk to us better. Then, before we could say anything, she opened the back door of the car and hopped right in. We were sitting there in shock, but she just kept asking us questions. It was really strange! She told us that she was schizophrenic and bipolar, which explained a little bit about why she would do that. While we were talking, her mom came out, saw that she was in our car, gave us a strange look, and walked back into the house. I wanted to talk to the mom, so I asked the lady in our car if she would go into her house to get us some water. When she got out, I turned to Hermana Perry and told her to grab her stuff, then we just followed the lady into her house. We didn't end up talking to her mom, but we were able to talk to her sister-in-law and we did a little bit of service and helped them to pack up for their move later this week. It was a little strange of an experience, but I think that we were able to meet some people who were prepared.

Another experience where we had an adventure because we followed the spirit. We were walking down a street where we have been a lot this week. One of the houses on the street had a couple of really big and scary looking dogs that were kept on chains. They had looked so scary that we decided that we probably shouldn't try talking to the people in the house. As we were about to get in our car to leave the street, we decided to knock one more house. They weren't home, but from the porch, we could see that one of the scary dogs had gotten loose and that all of the family from that house were outside in the streets. We both felt prompted to go and talk to them. Right before we got up to the house, the dog that had gotten loose started running up towards me. I saw my life flash before my eyes. It sort of jumped on me, and then it ran away. Nothing happened (but I did have some dog slobber on my watch). The dog's owner came out swearing up a storm and apologized so much. We gave her our card and were able to talk to her about our message. Her mother came out and started talking to us to. It turns out that she is actually an extremely less active member. We were able to talk to her a bit and she said that she wants to start coming back to church. We probably wouldn't have been able to find her if we weren't listening to the spirit (even though the prompting didn't make much sense!).

I am super excited for this transfer. It is going to be seven weeks long, but I am sure that we are going to be able to do a lot of good work during this time. I have already seen a lot of miracles during my first week here. I am positive that they are going to just keep on going!

I love being a missionary and seeing the difference that I am able to make in people's lives. I am sure that I am where the Lord wants me to be and I am trying more and more each day to be doing what he wants me to be doing. I love you all and I hope that you have a good week back at home. Keep cool and have fun!

Hermana Blau

Week Twenty-Four: Last Week in Palmdale

Area: Esperanza Ward
Companion: Hermana Van der Toolen

A lot of things have happened between the time that I last emailed and now. We went to the temple and we also got transfer calls. This transfer was only five weeks, so it felt super short. Start the drum roll. I am going to. . .BAKERSFIELD! I will be spending the next transfer in the Lacresta Ward in North Bakersfield. Things are going to be good!

Going to the temple was really cool. I have really missed being able to go whenever I wanted to, but I think that the fact that we are only able to go every six months made it really special. We got there a little early, so we were able to spend some time in the visitor's center. It was super interesting. We got there before any regular people were there, so the senior missionaries gave us a tour of the place. They offered to let us sit in on the training of the sister missionaries who work there. We didn't end up going, but it was super interesting being around other missionaries.

Being in the temple again was really nice. I love going to different temples, and the Los Angeles temple is huge! It was a beautiful building and I was able to feel the Spirit so much. I love the peace that I am able to feel while I am in the temple. It is one of my favorite things in the world.

This week, we had a ward party and one of our investigators, Carlos, came. It was super fun. I always love the parties that we have in the Hispanic wards. While we were at the party, we also had our (English speaking) district leader and his companion there on exchanges with the elders in our ward. It was super funny to see them reacting to all the people and the food. I forget sometimes how different everything in Spanish wards is from English wards. It is going to be a little strange going back home after spending so much time with the people down here!

With our investigator, Carlos

On Saturday, we met an interesting person while we were out. As we were walking down the street, we saw a guy who was sitting on his front porch and we decided to go and talk to him. He was Catholic, but he seemed pretty interested to learn more about the differences and similarities between our churches. It turned out that he had actually talked to the English sisters a week or so before. We were wondering why they hadn't given him as a referral (because his whole family is more comfortable in Spanish) when things started to get a little weird. He started to talk a lot about marriage and asking us strange questions like, "Do you think that Jesus was married?" and "Do you think that God could send someone into your life that would be your soul mate?" We started telling him about the Young Single Adult ward that they have in Lancaster, but he wasn't really interested in actually going to church. As we were trying to go, he said, "Who knows, maybe one of you would end up being my wife". What an interesting person!

Church yesterday was pretty good. We got our transfer calls on Saturday night. I am going to Bakersfield and Hermana Van der Toolen is going to Lancaster (about 20 minutes away from our current area). At church, we started telling everyone that we are going to be leaving. Hermana Van der Toolen would tell them that she was going to Lancaster and they would say that they were super excited for her. I would tell them that I was going to Bakersfield and they would get a sad look on their face and say, "Oh. That's . . . nice. Make sure that you stay in the shade and don't breathe in the dust". I have heard that when you go to Bakersfield, your shoes literally melt off of your feet and the dust storms can kill you. Hopefully, everything will work out. Hopefully I will not have melted by next Monday when I can write again!

One of our recent converts, Esther, brought her sister-in-law, Nahidi, to church. She is super sweet, but she has really bad Alzheimer's and is also a little frail. During relief society, Ester asked everyone to pray for her sister-in-law and everyone said that they would. After the class ended, we looked over and one of the less active members who had come to church that day had her hand on Nahidi's face, was shaking her back and forth, and was performing an exorcism. We just stood there in shock as it was all going on. She stopped in a little bit.

I am a little bit sad to leave Palmdale. I have made a lot of friends here and I love the people in this area. I have loved being able to teach the people in this area. I am sure that I will also come to love the people in Bakersfield as well. I love being a missionary and I am sure that the Lord is directing the work.

Keep cool at home. I love you all so much. You are all in my prayers!

Hermana Blau

Week Twenty-Three: In the Fiery Furnace

Look at the temperature! That isn't even the highest that I have seen it at. Sometimes it is a struggle to be out here because no one that we teach uses their air conditioning because it is too expensive.

Area: Esperanza Ward
Companion: Hermana Van der Toolen

This week has been crazy! We have been working a ton and trying to move the work forward in this area, and we have seen some pretty cool things!

I guess, first thing first, I should talk about the Licona family. I am pretty sure that I mentioned them a little bit in my last letter. We went over on Monday night to see them and talk to them about getting their marriage license. It turns out that they were able to go and buy the license during the day on Monday! That was a super big miracle. It has turned out to be a little bit harder to pick up the license because they both work in Los Angeles during every week day and have a hard time getting off work. Hopefully, they will be able to pick up the license during this week and they can keep moving towards baptism. I don't know if the entire family will be baptized all at once (the mom and some of the children are still super attached to the Catholic church), but the Lord is certainly helping them along the path!

We are still having a little bit of trouble finding people to teach right now, so we have been getting creative in our finding methods. One of the things that we have decided to start is an English class. We went over to the church on Tuesday night and set everything up, but we did not do very well with the publicity. In the end, we had one member and one investigator there along with the Spanish speaking elders in this area. It was super fun to teach English. It brought me back to the MTC. We were able to play some games and by the end, we all introduced ourselves in English. We are working on publicity and are passing out fliers for the class. Hopefully, this week, we will be able to have more people come and maybe we will be able to find some new investigators from it!

This week, we got a ton of referrals. It is always super fun to go and try to contact them all. Our area is huge. We cover the areas of four or five sets of English missionaries, so anytime they find someone who speaks Spanish, they just send them over to us. It's funny sometimes because the English missionaries can't really communicate with the people that they are referring us to, so sometimes we go over to see them and they are clearly not interested at all. Sometimes, however, we do get referrals to people who are super cool! For example, the other day, we went over to see a lady named Marlene who was a referral from our District Leaders. She told us to come right on in and sit down. She was super excited to see us and to learn from us. She already knows a lot about the church because some of her family currently attends the English ward in this area. She really likes the church and wants to come! Hopefully, everything turns out well with her.

One of my investigators drew this for me.

The weather here is super strange right now. For the first part of the week, I felt like I was burning up. It was so hot! The last half of the week, however, has actually been a little chilly. It is super strange. The other afternoon, I actually had to put on a sweater. I don't know if that is because it is actually cold, or if it is because I just want to believe that it is not a million degrees outside.

This week, we don't really have a full p-day. After we email, we are going to go right back to work, because we are going to go to the temple in Los Angeles on Wednesday! I am so excited! I love the temple so much and I have really missed going. It is also going to be really nice to get out of Palmdale for a little bit. I haven't left the city for four months! It feels weird to be going out into the big world again. I will be sure to send you some pictures of the adventure next week!

Not a whole ton of things have happened this week, but it has been a good one. I am so glad for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary out here in the Bakersfield California Mission. Even if it is like being in a fiery furnace all the time, I know that this is the area that I am supposed to be in. The people here are so nice (mostly) and I am able to see the hand of the Lord so many times each day. I love being here!

Thank you so much for all of your support! I love you all so much. Have fun back at home and have a good week!

Hermana Blau

My watch and feet tan lines. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself!
[Mom note: Savannah doesn't usually tan. She burns.]