week of January 30-February 5

Dustin, an AT&T employee, was at our mission office for nearly half a day doing some work and changing the fax connections so we could move that new printer from one room to another room.
When he was leaving he gave us his card. Almost automatically, I gave him a pass-along card with Christ's picture and said, "Here, we want you to have one of our cards." He kind of hesitated or mumbled. I asked, "Do you believe in Christ?" He said, "Oh yes." He then told us he was actually baptized into our church when he was a youth, but I guess his family was not very active. I told him we could have missionaries stop by to reteach him. He said missionaries have come by before and he asks them questions and they never come back. Just about that time, President Layton walked in and heard the tail end of the conversation. He told Dustin he was not inactive because there was something in there (pointing to his heart) because he was baptized once and believes in Christ. He asked him if he had ten minutes to spare and took him in his office. We had to leave soon after, but the next day we got the rest of the story. President Layton said Dustin had been filled with anti-Mormon stuff, but he gave him a lot to think about. Dustin said he would think about it.

A few days later, a man walked into the office selling chocolate bars for a fund raiser for a men's rehabilitation center. James came out and bought one and then said, "Here, let me give you something." He gave him a pass along card and James told him to read it and act upon it and it would be the best chocolate bar he ever sold.

Then we also found out that Matt, the man who cleans the apartment carpets for the mission, is taking the lessons. We all thought he was a member of the church. He actually came into the office on Friday to bring some receipts and we talked about his visits with the missionaries.

The mission got two very nice new Toyota Tacoma trucks that went to some lucky elders in a more mountain's area. Some sister missionaries were presented with the new Toyota Rav4.

Sister Zambrano and Sister Gillespie brought in a homemade cheesecake for us in the office. It was delicious and so thoughtful.

Tuesday evening we attended the Kern County School District honor band, orchestra, and choir concert "It's A Grand Night For Music" at the Rabobank Convention  Center. Bakersfield's mayor was the master of ceremonies. We were invited by Jayline (cello) and Grace (violin) from our ward. They were very excited that their "grandparents" were there to see them perform.

Friday night we enjoyed a potluck dinner social with the mission staff at the mission home. The Balls brought their daughter, Melanie, who is here from Arkansas visiting for the weekend. We had appetizers, prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, spinach salad, rolls, and desert. I brought "Luscious Lime Squares" for the desert.

Saturday James and I drove to McFarland and Delano for a little adventure. They are only twenty and thirty miles away. McFarland is a city of 19,000 and most famous for the movie, "McFarland, USA". I wanted to run around the high school track but all the gates were locked.

Delano is a city of 62,000 population. Cesar Chavez was born there. It has two state prisons. It has a lot of agriculture and is famous for table grapes and Halos mandarin oranges. It has a large Filipino American community. We have six elders serving in Delano and as we were driving down the old town Main Street we saw them. They had a table set up with signs, Book of Mormons, and pass along cards and were waving and talking to everyone. They said they usually do this a couple times a week and get a lot of good contacts that way. We went into the old fashioned JC Penney store and found a great deal on white shirts and two other shirts for James for only $3.99 each after the discount.

              Elder Parsons, Elder Canul, Elder West, Elder Tolman, Elder Sant, Elder Greenhalgh
                    They told us a member of the church painted the beautiful mural on the wall!

Saturday evening we went to a fiftieth birthday party and dinner for Petra. She is the lady in the Balls ward who has invited us to other dinners and parties at her house. She had everything decorated in leopard print, including herself. (The bottom picture is her family.)

Then we went to a baptism. Both Greg and Michelle Etheridge were baptized. They are the parents of three children who were each baptized one at a time in the past six months. Now the whole family has been baptized, and they are all looking forward to going to the temple together in a year to be sealed as an eternal family. That is what it is all about!

Sunday the Bakersfield 2nd Ward added a Spanish Group. Everything is the same except after the block of meetings there is another Sacrament Meeting just for the Spanish speaking members in their own language. The Spanish Group Leader is Brother Parada. He was born in Chili, but moved to Sweden when he was young. His father was a communist and had to leave Chili. Sweden was the only country that would give them asylum, so that is how they ended up there. His family joined the church in Sweden a few years later. He has lived in the United States for about eight years now. He is married and they have three children. There were about forty people in attendance today at the first meeting, which is pretty good. Two couples were there that had been less active and they bore their testimonies. James also bore his testimony. He told about being called as a branch president in Texas and how the branch grew from twenty-six members to about one hundred forty in less than a year. He told them that the people that were here today are the leaders of the growth of the Spanish Group. He also testified of the importance of families, prayer, scripture reading, and the love the Savior has for us. It was kind of fun to sing the hymns in Spanish and brought back old memories of being in the Spanish branch in Texas.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of January 23-29

Monday morning was exciting as we welcomed sixteen new missionaries to our mission. We look forward to welcoming new arrivals about every six weeks. This time there were ten sisters (four of whom are Spanish speaking) and six elders. James and I kind of fell into the job of official organizers and seteruppers. We had a snow theme this time; from my snowflake necklace to the pile of cotton balls for a centerpiece on the tables, to the addition of cauliflower (like little snowballs) in the salad, to the acini de pepe, snowflake stickers for the orientation checklist, and the treat bags full of snowman treats. President Layton was horrified during lunch when someone called out "snowball fight" and everyone started throwing the cotton balls at each other, but it did lighten things up and was fun for a minute or two.

     The dynamic duo: Elder Porras & Elder Morris.

That evening we had dinner at the mission home (picture below) with all the newly arrived missionaries. Sister Morris takes care of that dinner. She had Sister Medina (our substitute granddaughter's mother) make beans, rice, and tamales which everyone enjoyed.

Then Tuesday morning at 9:00 am we were back over to the stake center for transfers. The missionaries usually find out on Saturday night if they are going to be transferred. It was a hubbub of activity in the parking lot. Everybody getting their suitcases and stuff out and transferring it to other cars, lots of hugs and excitement to see each other, and some tears to say goodbye to their old companions. Thank heavens the rain had stopped and it was a nice day. James had to put some license plates on some of the new cars and take care of other business. After about an hour everybody leaves and drives off to their new areas. The trainers stay and come into the building for training and to get paired up with their newly arrived companions. They leave just before noon and are off to save souls. Then we fed lunch to the missionaries who will be departing from their missions the next day. There are only four going home this time. They have dinner and a final testimony meeting at the mission home with President and Sister Layton in the evening. Then early on Wednesday morning they take them to the airport for their 6:00 am flights. This wonderful process of arrivals, transfers, and departures is repeated over and over again about every six weeks.

This is Sister Clegg and Sister Harmon. We used to see Sister Harmon very often in the mission office. She always seemed to find some reason to come in. She brightens our day, and when she is in the room everyone knows it! She is very outgoing, crazy, and knows how to get what she wants. It is a party whenever she is around! She will still be in Bakersfield, but not so close to the office now. She was assigned to the YSA ward, and that means they cover all of Bakersfield, so maybe we will still get to see her all the time. They are great missionaries!

Wednesday morning there was a worldwide missionary broadcast that reached the 74,079 missionaries serving in the 422 missions around the world. The broadcast was with the seven members of the Missionary Executive Council. The council is made up of three apostles, Elders Oaks, Bednar, and Anderson, and four others. We watched it on the computers in the office. They gave some very good training for the missionaries. Elder Oaks said, "establish good habits in the field and they will continue after your missions." Elder Bednar said, "to get out of the way, do your best, and the Holy Ghost will operate thru us in spite of our limitations." He also said, "Talk less, listen more, be still and let the Holy Ghost do His work." Elder Anderson said, "Always speak of the Savior from the heart. It's just not words. It is representing Him." Some of the mission rules pertaining to the schedule in  the little, white Missionary Handbook were changed to give missionaries an opportunity to use their time wisely, exercise their agency, fit into the culture and time schedules of other countries better, to have more time on P-day, and to make it a smoother transition when they leave their missions and go back to their regular lives. Also, the information missionaries report related to those they are teaching, "key indicators" changed from the previous nine to only four now. They are:  investigators baptized and confirmed, investigators with a baptismal date, investigators who attend sacrament meeting, and new investigators. Elder Oaks gave good advice to all of us when he said, "Miss no opportunity to serve your fellowman."

Help, what is happening! There was only one baptism in our mission this week. Julio Jimenez, an 86 year old man, was baptized. Usually there is a whole list of people getting baptized, which has been averaging out about seven or eight each week.

James and I try to "match" if we can. He usually waits to see what color I am wearing, and then he picks out his tie for the day. Some of the sisters at transfers noticed and commented on it. They said we were "so cute".

On Saturday we went to California City with Ingrid & Bruce to deliver some medication to one of our missionaries there. It is about an hour and a half southeast of here. There is not much in California City. It is a pretty desolate place out in the Mojave Desert. It was only started in 1958 and was going to be a planned community larger than Los Angeles, but it failed. They built Central Park and an artificial lake in the center. The population grew to only about 14,500. Even though it is a small city, it is the third largest in California by land area. It boasts a PGA golf course, small airport, a prison, and a professional independent baseball team, California City Whiptails in the Pecos League.

                  Elder Killian (one of our brand new missionaries) and Elder Rindlisbacher

Then we went to Boron, a small town about 27 miles from there. Boron only has a population of 2,500, but is home to the world's largest source of the boron compound boric acid. The U.S. Borax Boron Mine is California's largest open-pit mine and the largest borax mine in the world. It is owned by Rio Tinto Minerals. The twenty mule team was made famous there. Also, the movies "Erin Brockovich" with Julia Roberts and "The Carpetbaggers" were filmed there. In addition, the TV show "Death Valley Days" (1952-1975) was filmed in and around Boron.

       Boron or boric acid is in nature and is in so many products we use everyday and see around us.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of January 16-22

Bakersfield has been experiencing unusual amounts of rain lately. It rained several days this week, which is good because they have been in a drought the last few years. Our little courtyard in front of the mission office door looked almost like "beachfront property". This is the first time we have seen water in the river and canals since we have been here. They have been bone dry. Also, the mountains received snow.

We are so excited that we got a new copier in the office this week. (It doesn't take much to make us happy.) It will get a workout because we all seem to make a lot of copies. The old one gave us lots of trouble and frustrations.

James took the Assistants, Elder Olsen and Elder Bennett, to lunch on Thursday. I think he just wanted an excuse to go to Freddy's.

Our missionaries have been instructed to use their cars like a bus; drive to an area and then get out and walk. That way they will be out among the people more and have more opportunities to meet people and talk to them. Many missionaries have Chevy Malibu's and they have dubbed them "Malibus".                                                               Friday we met Elder Vellver and Stephenson to go teach a lady. Unfortunately, the lady was not home. Those elders were doing what they were suppose to do because their car was parked way down the street.                                         (We took a picture of them at church today because Elder Stephenson is being transferred to Ridgecrest on Tuesday.)

Saturday afternoon we went to a baptism. Elder Casper and Elder Waters both went into the baptismal font with Ann to baptize her. Ann is a large woman in her 50's with challenges. She uses a wheelchair most of the time or a walker for short distances. She managed to get to the font and the sweet Elders gently helped her down the three or four steps into the font. Then they were both there to immerse her in the water. It was a tender moment. The spirit was very strong in the room! It was another reminder to us that Heavenly Father does not judge a person by the way they look on the outside. He loves everyone the same and sees the person they are inside and what they can become.

James taught the lesson in High Priests on Sunday. Last week they asked for a volunteer. No one volunteered, so James did. What a good guy! It was on the talk by Elder Craig C. Christensen, "A Choice Seer Will I Raise Up" from October's General Conference.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

P.S.  Can you believe that Trump is our new President of the United States!

Week of January 9-15

Sometimes in the evenings I knit for awhile. I brought a big bag of yarn with me on our mission and have used it all up now making hats. I made a total of about thirty-five hats.

Elder Beckstead and Elder Labrum came into the office on Friday. I complemented them on their pretty flower ties. They said it was "Floral Friday". How could I not know!

James and I went on a teaching appointment again this week with Elders Vellver and Stephenson. They taught Bonafacio about prayer. Bonafacio is another humble man in his fifties from Mexico who does not read or write. He collects cans and bottles everyday to sell. He says he makes from $30-$50 per day. He also finds clothing and all kinds of things in garbage bins and cans that he cleans up and sells. He said that is how he was able to raise his family. His wife was at work. We don't know where she works. He had many pictures of Jesus around his apartment scattered among all of the stuff.

I am learning how to use Excel with James's help. I made this pretty chart of the baptism numbers by stakes and months for our mission last year that President Layton wanted.

I was able to help Elder Chamberlain find a family temple name to take with him on Friday to the Los Angeles Temple. He went with the other missionaries who are going home on the 25th. Last week when we were at the Family History Center with him he was trying, but had no luck. I told him if he didn't mind giving me his login info I would try to find him a name. I spent several hours looking and finally messaged three different people to ask them to share a name they had reserved. All three responded yes, so Elder Chamberlain ended up with three family names. I also helped Sister Ball find a family name for her to take. We and the Ball's and take turns attending the temple with the departing missionaries, and it was their turn this time. Just an interesting side note:  Elder Chamberlain had two car accidents in one day a few weeks ago (no one was hurt, just the car got banged up), and he had his driving privilege taken away. What a way to end a mission. He is a great missionary!

We went knocking on doors Saturday; not as Mormon missionaries, but we participated with the American Red Cross as "Home Fire Campaign Volunteers" to celebrate the Martin Luther King National Day of Service. We had two other people on our team; Jessica, an American Red Cross employee, and Anthony, a 16 year old high school student. We went house to house asking homeowners if they had smoke detectors. If not, we told them we could install free ones for them. Nearly everyone took us up on the offer. I turned out to be so brave and was the one ringing doorbells and telling the people about the program. Then I taught them a little bit about fire safety, gave them some printed information, and filled out a form. If they were only Spanish speakers, James took over. Then James and Anthony worked together installing the smoke detectors in the bedrooms and living room. James actually climbed the little ladder and used the power drill. Anthony handed him the screws, drill, and detector. We worked from about 10:00 to 4:00 with a lunch break at the fire station. We installed 39 smoke detectors and made quite a few homes and families safer. In total about 700 were installed by all the teams. It was actually VERY fun and rewarding.

We rushed home after, changed our clothes, and went to dinner at a member's house. They were celebrating their daughter's birthday and graduation from BYU Idaho. We had to leave early to go pick up some investigators,     C. J. and his son, Cash, to take to a baptism so they could see what it is all about. A seventeen year old girl was baptized. All of the youth in her ward and a lot of other people came out to support her. They had to move out of the regular baptism room into the chapel to accommodate everyone.

We kept seeing these weird looking, knobby trees around and wondered what they were. We found out they are Fruitless Mulberry trees. They have to be trimmed every year. The one on the left has not been trimmed yet. In the Spring they grow tons of branches, get pretty blossoms, and then have lots of leaves.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of January 2 - 8

This cute, little snowman is our lone January decoration.

We started the New Year and this week off by getting back to exercising. While exercising in the club house we watched the Rose Bowl Parade. It hit me kind of funny that it takes place in Pasadena on Colorado Blvd, since we used to live in Pasadena, Texas and now in Colorado. We only went into the office for about an hour on Monday because it was a holiday and everything was pretty quiet.

Wednesday, January 4th, marked the 1/2 way point of our mission. It is hard to imagine that we are on the downside now. We are trying to do everything we can to help our mission run smoothly and efficiently and take advantage of any opportunities that come our way to help in other ways. We are trying to be more attentive to the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost and follow any and all promptings we receive.

Thursday we went with Elders Vellver and Stephenson to a teaching appointment. They taught the Word of Wisdom lesson to Teodore and his son. Teodore is probably around fifty years old and does not read or write. His son has some kind of mental disability. They live in very humble circumstances in a tiny house with barely anything.

Friday we met with Mario, the guy we took home from church last week, and Elders Jacobson and Barney at the Family History Center at the church to help Mario. While we were waiting for the elders to get there with the key, Mario was telling us about gang life in and out of prison. It was all very interesting and we got quite an education. It is amazing that he has been able to break the cycle of gangs and violence that he grew up in and his family is still somewhat involved with and get on the right path.

Saturday we went to watch the movie "Hidden Figures". The movie is the true, inspirational story about three brilliant, black women in the 1960's who worked at NASA and helped to launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit. It was one of those rare movies where the whole theatre was clapping at the end because it was so good and inspiring!

In the evening we went to the baptism of Shelby Etheridge. She is a 13 year old girl whose two younger brothers joined the church recently. Her father and mother are also investigating the church. It is a real inspiration that children and teenagers can feel the spirit and know the truth and make such an important decision for their lives.

Sunday evening the Laytons invited us, the Ball's, and the Morris's over to the mission home for dessert. They are constantly on the go traveling around the mission for zone conferences, interviews, MLC, district meetings, meetings with stake presidents, etc. Sister Layton, Nancy, says she feels like they live in their car and hotels. They do not get into the office very often, so she says she misses us. We didn't know until we got there that it was Nancy's birthday. They are also going to start having potluck dinners at their house once a month.

James has been reading an autobiography of Steve Young and really enjoying it. He doesn't read many books so this is kind of a rare sight.

This statue of Father Francisco Garces is a historical landmark in Bakersfield. It is located in Garces Circle, the only traffic circle in Bakersfield. It was sculpted in 1939 and stands over 22 feet tall. Garces was the first white man to enter the region back in the 1700's. He was a Catholic priest and explorer.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of December 26-January 1, 2017 (New Years)

This is a sight you do not see in Colorado in December; flowers and a hummingbird.





This week there were a couple days that the temperature was higher in Parker, Colorado than here in Bakersfield, California. Interesting! It rained all day Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening. We even had to break out our umbrella. All that rain cleansed and cleaned the air so that Sunday morning the mountains around Bakersfield were visible and pretty.

It is always kind of a let down right after Christmas when the holidays are over. Things look kind of bare at home and at the office without the few Christmas decorations we had. The bright spot is that we noticed the days are already getting longer and it is not dark any more when we leave the office about 5:00 pm. Yeah for more daylight!

Our car didn't start one morning. The battery was dead, so we got a new one and were back in business.
The other car news is that the mission received the fourteen new Chevy Malibu's that James had been waiting on forever. The office staff and a couple drivers from the dealership helped drive the cars over to the office parking lot. Then we had to take them to Sound Waves where the TiWi's were installed. The lucky missionaries who get the new cars are so excited! Below are five of the cars all neatly in a row.

The missionaries are always so appreciative of any little thing we do for them; from making a phone call for them, delivering them a package from home, getting them supplies at the office, etc. We had the opportunity to really help a missionary the other day and were thankful that we were in a position to do so. She has been thanking us every since. We told her to just concentrate on her missionary work now, and when she has an opportunity some day she can pass it on.

I turned 66 on Thursday and had a nice birthday. All the texts, birthday cards, and phone calls made me feel special. We went to a movie, and then the Ball's treated us to dinner to celebrate my birthday.

We rang in the new year playing games with the Ball's. I had to twist James' arm to get him to play games, but he really enjoyed it and got into it. He won Phase 10 and I won Five Crowns! 
We ate too many sweets and toasted in 2017 with glasses of "bubbly" Martinelli's.
(FYI:  Martinelli's is made in California near Monterrey Bay.)

Sunday at church we met Mario who was baptized last April and just moved into the ward. He is twenty-eight years old and spent ten years in prison. When he got out and was on parole he accompanied a friend to church. He loved how it felt there and how he felt inside. He had to wait until he was off parole to be able to join the church. After church we took him home so he could change his clothes and then we dropped him off at his job at a rehabilitation place for ex-convicts. He used to be a client there and now that is where he is employed. He grew up in southern California in a dysfunctional family that is into drugs, drinking, gangs, and prison. He told his mom he loves them, but would have to love them from a distance because he has changed his life and doesn't want to be influence by their lifestyle. He is also getting laser treatments to remove his tattoos. Mario is a big, big guy and barely fit into the front seat of our VW with the seat all the way back.

We want to wish you all JOY & PEACE in the new year.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of December 19-25 (Christmas)

The missionaries in our mission get to go to the temple twice per year, in June and in December, with members from their wards. Then a couple weeks before they finish their mission they get to go to the temple with the other departing missionaries. In addition, it is new policy that they can go with their new converts to take them to do baptisms. Well, last Tuesday and Wednesday were the all mission temple trips. On Tuesday we went and Ingrid Ball went with us. Her husband opted to stay at the office. We went to the Los Angeles Mission Office in the basement of the Visitor Center. We met the office couples and had a tour of their office. It was fun to see how another mission office looks and runs. We saw many of our missionaries coming out of the temple as we were going in. They went earlier. We ate a late lunch in the temple cafeteria before going to a session. It was past 5:30 pm and dark when we walked out of the temple, but the Christmas lights were shining brightly. We walked around and enjoyed them before our drive back.

On our afternoon off on Thursday, we delivered the fifteen microwave potato bags I made to some of our neighbors and friends from church. It was fun to spread a little Christmas cheer.



Friday was the Christmas "Morningside" for this side of the mission at our stake center. We had breakfast, watched the movie "It's a Wonderful Life", passed out the Christmas treat bags, played a fun game with the gifts the parents had sent, had a couple special musical numbers, sang Christmas carols, were taught by President and Sister Layton, and ended with a picture video of the missionaries and their activities. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Saturday night, Christmas Eve, the Morris's invited us over for a Mexican dinner. We brought bunuelos and pan dulce that we bought at Vallarta's Mexican grocery store. (It was so busy there this morning. Everyone was buying masa to make tamales and their food for the holidays.) After dinner, we had a fun "white elephant" gift exchange. Then Patty Morris read a touching Christmas story. It was so nice being there with some of their family and friends. It distracted us from missing our own family and Christmas traditions.

On Christmas morning we found our stockings all filled with goodies and opened a couple gifts. Then we went to church and enjoyed our Christmas Sacrament Meeting. We loved talking to our kids and grandkids and hearing about their Christmas.                 








We had Christmas dinner at the Ball's house with them, Elders Colburn, Egbers, Casper, and Waters, and John from their ward.

Below are some of the Christmas lights and trees around Bakersfield that we have enjoyed this season.

The article "The Holy Ghost Our Personal Guide" in the January Ensign tells about the adoption of our own sweet Sister Hayes in our mission. She was adopted from an orphanage in Asia when she was four years old. The article is written by her mother.

A picture is worth a thousand words.
I guess it is true that some Mormons have horns!







    THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!