Week of October 17-23

We got new computers in the mission office, so it has been a bit of a challenge to get into all the programs we were using and figure things out. We have all had to make calls to the church helpline. Those people are so nice and patient and helpful!

Tuesday one of our favorite missionaries, Elder Rocha, left to return home after two years. We kind of feel like you shouldn't play favorites with the missionaries just like we don't play favorites with our kids, but he was special and such a good missionary.  His family came to pick him up at the mission office since they live in California so we got to meet them. You can't see in the picture, but his tie is tied in an elaborate knot that looks kind of braided. He gave James a copy of how to tie the cool knot.

Elder Holmgren, one of the assistant's to the President, told James that he looks like President Uchtdorf. I have often thought that before myself, but never said anything to anyone. I think it is mostly their similar silver hair.

Someone gave the Balls some persimmons and they shared them with us. We had never had one before. It was crisp and didn't seem to have much taste, but was a little sweet and tasted a little bit like pumpkin.

James stepped off the edge of the sidewalk and twisted his ankle on Saturday. It got quite swollen and painful, and he could barely walk by the evening. We wondered if he would be able to go to church the next day. The Lord blessed him and it was much better by the morning. He barely limped.

We went to a baptism Friday night for a young woman, probably about twenty years old. She goes by only one name, Bailey, which is actually her last name. We took an investigator with us. We were going to go to another baptism Saturday night, but we didn't because of James' ankle.



Saturday we went to the movie, "I Am Not Ashamed". It was the story of Rachel Joy Scott who was the first student shot at the Columbine High School massacre. She was a committed Christian who stood up for what she believed in even though her friends turned against her. In her last school essay she said, "I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go." The movie was really good and showed how one person can touch so many lives. It was inspiring! Her legacy of kindness and compassion continues through "Rachel's Challenge", a program in many schools.

LaResa and Troy both texted me today to let me know that I was finally released from my calling as Stake Music Librarian. It made me kind of sad since I had that calling for nearly twelve years.
Troy also sent a picture of our missionary plaque hanging in the hall at church. That was fun to see!

Near our church on two different streets we spotted these cute, little libraries that some families have put in front of their houses. What a fun way to share with others!

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of Oct 10-16

Elder Carl B. Cook and his wife, Lynette, came to visit our mission Thursday thru Sunday. Thursday evening we had dinner with them at President Layton's house along with the other two full-time missionary couples in our mission. Ingrid and I made the dinner and had everything ready when President and Sister Layton arrived about 7:00 pm with the Cook's. They had been at a Zone Conference in Lancaster all day. Ingrid made a delicious jello salad, apricot scones, and pumpkin

roll for dessert. I made chicken divan and a big green salad (spinach, romaine, cucumbers, green onions, strawberries, grapes, toasted almonds, and poppy seed dressing). President Layton called on me to say the blessing. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. Both Elder Cook and President Layton went back for seconds. Then we went around the table and Elder Cook had us each tell about what we do in the mission and the blessings we have seen.                                                                                         

Friday we spent the day at the multi-Zone Conference in Bakersfield. We met in the chapel of the Bakersfield Stake Center. Before the meeting started Elder Cook had the whole audience come up

row by row to shake hands with him, his wife, President Layton and his wife. They told him their name and where they were from. As we passed by, he again thanked us for the nice dinner and said, "Bless you for your service." There were probably about 100 missionaries in attendance. When the missionaries sing hymns they really open up and it is nice and loud. For a special musical number Elder Casper sang "He Lives". It was beautiful! His mother died a few months ago, he hurt his foot and was on crutches and now walks with a big boot on his foot, but he always has a smile on his face and lights up the room.

After lunch we all sang "Called to Serve" as a thank you to the Relief Society sisters who provided the lunch.             
 (Elder Porras, in the middle, and Elder Cook, on the far right)

Elder Cook taught in the morning and the afternoon. He taught us about real conversion and that the atonement is the central point of this change. (The word "atonement" is only in the New Testament 1 or 2 times. It is in the Book of Mormon 43 times.)  He talked about the five points of conversion:  faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. That cycle should be recurring continually in our lives. Elder Cook likes to say "enjoy to the end" instead of just "endure to the end". Then he taught about individual and companion study focused on their investigators followed by planning the lesson with the investigators in mind. Elder Cook called on Elder and Sister Porras (us) to come up to the stand to be part of the Perez family that the missionaries were teaching in a role play. Kind of scary, but we did it. (This role play was based on a real Perez family that some elders are teaching. The father is in Mexico, the mother was killed by domestic abuse, and the children are left to live and manage by themselves. They are about ages 22 ,she is working somewhere, 18, 16, 14, and 9.) 

At the end of the conference, Elder Cook went down the pews and had each of the 100 missionaries and the l0 or so adults stand and say in one sentence or less what they learned. I said, "to apply the atonement daily in my life". James said, "the importance of your companionship". Then Elder Cook said, "May the Lord bless you, and as you serve, your families will have joy in your service".             It was a huge blessing to be taught by a general authority seventy! James found out that Stan Ellis, who we knew in Houston and is also a seventy was Elder Cook's counselor when he served in the South Africa Area Presidency, so he texted our picture with him to Stan Ellis.

James has been to assigned to home teach with our bishop, Bishop Butler. They went out visiting this week. James learned that he is only 38 years old. He is a really good bishop who loves his ward members.

Since we have been picking Verenice up for church we drive thru the center of town to get to our church building. Some cities have fiberglass painted horses, cows, or roosters displayed on their streets, well Bakersfield has cute, little trucks.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of October 3-9

Ingrid and I signed up for an exercise class in the park. It is a 30 minute class at 6:00 am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We walk the three blocks to the park. Then the instructor puts us through a pretty vigorous workout and it is different everyday. It is a small class of about 8 to 10 women who are young mothers except for one lady is 49 years old and then there is us. The teacher puts on Christian music for us to exercise to and says a lovely prayer at the end when we are finished. She and her husband are from South Africa and made the decision to come here because she said it was not safe in her country.





On a morning walk the other morning I was surprised to see the mountains this clear. Usually they are just a dim outline because of the bad air. Somebody told us there are about four days a year that you can really see that Bakersfield is surrounded by mountains. We are still waiting for one of those days!




President Layton was asked to speak to the YM leaders and bishoprics in one of the stakes about how to prepare the young men for missions. He was telling us that he was going to tell them they need to be taught about and understand the atonement and the sacrament. He feels like if they really comprehend those two things they will be able to handle the difficulties and challenges that come with a mission. The atonement and the sacrament are two very basic things for all of us to understand and be able to use to help us return to our Heavenly Father.

One day at the mission office I had nothing to do for about the last fifteen minutes before it was time to leave, so I got on FamilySearch and found and printed up ordinance cards for two people in my descendancy who need their work done. Another morning I was up early and did some Family History on our computer at home for about an hour and a half and found a bunch of work to be done. I gave a few of the ones that needed baptisms done to one of our granddaughters who was going to the temple the next day and the rest I gave to Jaylene and Grace, our substitute granddaughters here, because they are having a youth temple trip this coming Saturday.








James has gotten pretty good at washing our car with just a little bucket of water. It is a little frustrating because it seems impossible to get the windows clean. I guess it is all the dust in the air. Also, by the next morning there is a layer of dust on the car. He ordered some Dri-Wash and cleans the car with it about every third time.

Saturday we went to the movie "Sully" and really enjoyed it.

That evening we went to a baptism for Rigoberto Silva and his 11 year old daughter, Valerie. His wife is already a member and came back into activity.

Sunday Elder Porras confirmed Rigoberto in Sacrament Meeting. He was nervous because he had not done any ordinances in Spanish since his Branch President days many years ago, but he did great and everyone felt the spirit!
We picked Verenice up for church. She is here from Mexico living with her cousin and his family for a year to learn English. Her cousin and his wife, who is from El Salvador, are being taught by the missionaries. We have accompanied the elders on a couple of those visits. Verenice and her cousin are from the state of Guanajuato in Mexico from a small town next to the one where James's grandpa Porras lived.











This lonely pumpkin bucket is our only Halloween decoration. I've been thinking about all our Halloween decorations at home just sitting in the boxes in the storage room, but this will have to do this year.




















We often see cute little snails on the side of the apartment buildings or on the sidewalk. Aren't they cute?

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of September 26-October 2, 2016 (General Conference Weekend)

We have a new addition to the mission office; a jar of fruit snacks on the front counter. When our missionaries come into the office we tell them that if they can share a "fruit" of their labors with us, they can have a fruit snack. We have heard some amazing, inspirational stories from them. Even a kind of funny story. Sister Hays and Sister King were out of toilet paper and "P" day and shopping were many days away. They prayed that they could get some toilet paper somewhere somehow. They had a dinner appointment with a family that night and before the sisters left the family asked them if they could do anything for them. Hesitantly, the sisters said they could use some toilet paper. On the way home from work, the husband called his wife to say he was stopping at the store to buy toilet paper. She asked why, and he just said he felt they needed some. It was an answer to the sister's prayers.




Tuesday James stayed in bed and slept most of the day because he got a cold last weekend and it was only getting worse. The rest really helped, and he was back to work at the mission office on Wed.

Friday we picked Melva up and joined her for a lesson with Elder Rocha and Elder Jacobsen at the church. She is planning on being baptized soon. She says she feels so happy and she wants to learn everything in one day. It makes us happy to see her so happy. On the other hand, our hearts were broken and we felt so sad when Elder Bennett told us that Serena does not want them to come teach her anymore.

After our teaching appointment, we went to Victor and Isabel's house to put lds.org on her desktop on her computer and showed her what to do to be able to watch conference. Victor turned 80 on Monday, so we took him a birthday present, his mother's temple ordinance card ready to take to the temple. We figure Victor can baptize his wife or someone else as proxy for his mother. Then we took them with us to the High Priest social at the Nation's house. It was a Mexican dinner. We took pan dulce. A few days ago we were talking to Victor's relative Noe, who lives in Herriman, Utah, about their family history to try to help Victor. James asked Noe if by chance he knows Freddy Munoz, who we knew from Houston, but now lives in the Salt Lake City area. Remarkably, he does and they are quite good friends. What a small world!

Saturday we watched conference in our apartment on our computer. Sunday we went to the stake center for both sessions of conference. It was mostly missionaries with just a handful of members watching. However, the Relief Society room had quite a few Hispanic members listening in Spanish.
I loved the question President Uchtdorf asked, "What shall we give for receiving so much?" I also loved President Monson's reminder that Heavenly Father gave us the perfect plan for peace and happiness here and in the world to come. Elder Brian K. Ashton's talk on the doctrine of Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end reinforced the things we are looking for and underlining as we continue reading the Book of Mormon for our 65 day challenge (27 days so far) in our mission. We will always be trying to "gear down and power up and put it in compound" as Elder Carl B. Cook told us. (He is coming to visit the California Bakersfield Mission in about ten days.) James especially liked Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk about stumbling blocks that we see people encounter and get caught up in like philosophies, extremes, and not acknowledging sin. Then Elder M. Russell Ballard talked about similar things like not letting doubts and questions you may have push you away from the church. He said to "have faith to believe".

The Hispanic members carried on their twenty-five year tradition of having a potluck lunch at the church between conference sessions. I took Italian Chicken Pasta salad. (As I was making that big bowl of salad it almost felt like I was making food for a family dinner.) They invited all the missionaries also. They asked James to say the blessing.

                                                             These are our substitute "granddaughters", twins Grace & Jaylene Martinez. They are seniors in high school competing to be the valedictorian and salutatorian 

     Nora & Vicky Urbina from Guatemala

  ?, ?, ?, Vicky, Nora, & Melva (investigator)

It was such a nice, cool (76 degrees) day that we ate our dinner (zucchini bread and drink) on our little front porch. How do you like our fancy chairs ($5) from Walmart?

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of September 19-25

This was another great week. Monday the temperature was 104, but on Thursday, the first day of Fall, we enjoyed a beautiful day at only 77 degrees. It was a refreshing 57 degrees that morning when I took a walk.

They had the trees on the property of our apartments trimmed and really thinned out. The trees look kind of sad now, but I guess in the end they will grow better. The problem is that some of the limbs were hanging in front of a light outside our bedroom window, but no more. What used to be kind of a soft night light like light coming through the window blind is now like the noonday sun. Well, not quite that bad, but you get the picture. Sadly, they cut one tree down entirely.

James has had quite a week of dreams. One night he screamed loudly and meanly, "Get off of that!" Later that night he was talking out loud in Spanish, but I don't know what he said. He woke up Friday morning asking me if I had seen the rain pouring down. He swears he looked out the window and it was pouring rain. I told him there was no rain and he was just dreaming. When we left the house that morning I did point out a puddle on the sidewalk to him and he felt better. (It was from the sprinklers, but he doesn't have to know). Friday night he was fighting a war and running up a hill to get behind some buildings to avoid getting shot at when "thump"  he was on the floor by our bed. At least we had moved the nightstand so it was not there to knock his head on. I guess we are going to have to move the bed next to the wall so he can't fall off.

Tuesday we had 22 new missionaries arrive in Bakersfield about noon. They were suppose to come on Monday, but their plane was canceled for some reason. President and Sister Layton and the AP's picked them up at the airport and brought them to one of the churches. We had pizza and salad waiting to feed them. Then they went through the orientation stations - finance, vehicles, health, and contact info - we had set up for them to sign papers and get their missionary medical card, money card, and kiwi (driving) cards. Then they had their pictures taken with President and Sister Layton and group pictures. After that they went into a meeting to learn about vehicle safety, housing, medical info, etc. It was fun to meet all of them. One Elder's first name is Eli and James sang him a few lines from the song "Eli's Coming", which of course he had never heard of and probably thought Elder Porras was a little looney. At 5:00 pm we all had a nice dinner at the President's house. The 9 Elders who had completed their missions and were leaving the next day were also invited to dinner. We will miss them.

One day I got a call from a Colorado number I did not recognize. It was sister missionaries asking me if I could accompany them to an appointment at 4:00. It took me by surprise for a moment until I realized they were in Colorado from the Pinery Ward probably going down the ward list. I told them I would except I was in Bakersfield, California serving a mission. I think that took them by surprise.

Thursday evening we took Ingrid and Bruce out to dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate her birthday. We had their four course dinners. It was delicious and fun.

The next evening we met President and Sister Layton and the mission staff at Wool Growers for dinner to thank Elder Moyce, the mission doctor, who is soon to be released for his service. That was an experience. We had about a ten course dinner served family style, which included a cabbage vegetable soup, beans, salsa, bread, tomato salad, green salad, spaghetti, French fries, pickled tongue, lamb, chicken, or beef, and ice cream. Wool Growers is a Basque restaurant that has been in Bakersfield for sixty years. Originally, the Basque people reared sheep in the Pyrenees mountains that run between the border of France and Spain. A group of Basque people settled here when they came to the US.

This week we also went on another teaching appointment to see Serena. She still loves the Book of Mormon and thinks it is pure, but she has been reading some anti-Mormon stuff and has lots of questions and is confused. We also met Vickie and Nora Urinda at the Family History Center to help them get a LDS account and log into FamilySearch. They are sisters from Guatemala who are single and live together and are so sweet. Vickie is the oldest in their family of eight siblings and Nora is the youngest with twenty years between them.


One day as we going to get in our car to go to the mission office a lady was out there and said, "Thank you for your service". We thought that was nice and were on our way. Then another day James was out by his car and a man was getting in his car and said, "Thank you for your service". We finally figured out they were thanking James for his military service, not us for our mission service.

Saturday James participated in the Stake Golf Tournament. He went with Bob Ritchey, the mission housing coordinator, and his son. He said it was fun, but he did not have his best game because he has not golfed for a while.

I listened to the Spirit and invited Serena to go with me to the General Women's Broadcast. I knew she doesn't believe in going to church on Sunday, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for her to go to a church like activity on Saturday. She accepted without hesitation and thanked me for asking her and taking her. I think she felt the Spirit there as I did.  Pres Uchtdorf's talk on Faith was so inspirational and uplifting.

On Sunday we picked up Melva, an investigator, for church. There were several other investigators in attendance as well. Mary, another investigator, came back this week with one of her daughters, her husband, and a grandchild. An additional set of Spanish speaking missionaries joined our ward, so now we have two sets of Spanish speaking elders and one set of English elders. James taught the lesson in High Priests.

It was fun to FaceTime with most of our family tonight. They were at Troy and Crystal's where they had family dinner. They admitted they did not sing our song, "Families Can Be Together Forever" before dinner, so we all sang it together over FaceTime. They had us on their big movie screen. We felt like movie stars!

Something I have really tried to do every Sunday is say my prayers with only thankfulness, no asking for anything or any help. It helps me to be aware of all the blessings I do have and it feels good!

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of September 12 - 18

We were given more zucchini from Jilleen, a lady in our ward, as a thank you for fixing a hole in her skirt. This time I made zucchini carrot cupcakes and took them to our Tuesday staff meeting. It took a while to bake them because I only have one cupcake pan. They were a hit!

We had a lot of missionaries come and go in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday because President Layton was doing interviews. Two came hobbling in on crutches. Elder Casper tore some ligaments in his foot playing Frisbee and the other Elder hurt his hip jumping on a trampoline. Boys will be boys! It was fun to visit with all of them. I decided that instead of just idle chit-chat I would ask them, "What is the best thing that happened today or in the last few days?" Elder Duncan told me about how a dragonfly kept circling around him and almost landed on his finger. It reminded him of where he grew up and all the dragonflies there. Another elder was excited about his 90 year old investigator who came to church. One elder turned the question back around to me and asked, "What was the best thing that happened to you today?" The first thing that came to my mind was the cool, refreshing air this morning and how we opened our patio door and let it in. It was so nice.

Both Tuesday and Thursday afternoons we picked up Melva, an investigator, and took her to the church where we met Elders Rocha and Toluta'u for lessons. They taught her about The Restoration and about Chastity and The Word of Wisdom. She said she feels so peaceful when she is around all of us and at church. On Thursday, she said she had not had a cigarette all day. She gave the prayer at the end of the lesson. Even though it was in Spanish, I could tell it was very good and natural to her. James agreed.

Friday, we had the opportunity to go to the Los Angeles Temple with the nine missionaries that will be departing soon. Pres & Sister Layton, Matt & Patti Morris, and the Assistants also went. We took pictures, had a chapel session before our endowment session, and ate lunch at the temple.When we were in the Celestial Room, one of the workers came over to me and asked if this was a group of missionaries. I said yes and that we were from Bakersfield. She thought James was their mission president because of the way he was going around talking to all the elders. I told her we worked in the office and pointed out President Layton, who was also visiting with some of the elders. Next to being in the temple with our own family members, this was a great experience being in the temple with these young elders who have served the Lord so well these past two years. Even though we have only known them a short time, they almost feel like family. It was a tender mercy. It was a great day!                     

Elder Nicholes, 4th from the left, is from Heber City, Utah and my cousin, Jay Niederhauser, was his Bishop and then his stake president. He is thinking about going to Utah State University.  

It takes a little over two hours or more to drive to the temple depending on the traffic. The Los Angeles Temple is the 2nd largest temple. The largest temple is Salt Lake City.

Elder Porras likes to play around with the missionaries. He has a good relationship with all of them. These four are the Assistants to the President. They are in the office several times a week, so we get to see them often. (Elder Rojo, Elder Holmgren, Elder Porras, Elder Tasi, Elder Larsen)

I made another batch of zucchini carrot cupcakes on Saturday. To keep from eating them all ourselves, we took plates of cupcakes to three families we went to visit Sunday afternoon after church.  First, there was Serena, an investigator, and her husband. She was busy helping her cat give birth to kittens. Then we visited April, a new convert, and her boyfriend. Lastly, we had a nice visit with Victor, who was baptized about two months ago, and his wife, Isabel, who just had skin cancer surgery on her face.

We have noticed that most of the streets in Bakersfield are very wide. They must have taken notice of streets in Utah cities .Some parking lots at schools, churches, movie theatres, etc. have covered parking spaces to help shield from the sun and heat I guess. Most of them also have solar panels on top so they are doing double duty.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of September 5 - 11

This week started off celebrating Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. It is also a day to celebrate the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made for our country. The week ended remembering all of those who tragically lost their lives fifteen years ago on 9-ll. It was also a day to celebrate our granddaughter's, Chloe, 18th birthday.











We left the office for a couple hours on Labor Day to attend a barbeque at Hermana Medina's house. It was a perfect day for a picnic under the shade of a tree in her yard with her children and other ward members.









Early Tuesday morning, even before the crack of dawn, we were out in the garden along with the Balls helping Don plant the fall and winter crops. Those are snow peas along the trellis.

Tuesday at our weekly meeting, President Layton said, "We are fighting a war. The adversary is very active." He told us he was going to issue a challenge to all the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon in 65 days. He said the Book of Mormon was translated in 85 days, but the actual translating was done in 65 of those 85 days because of things that were going on. We are joining in the challenge. As we read, he suggested we look for and underline doctrines of Christ like faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost

Wednesday night we ate at the Nation's (he is the High Priest Group Leader and she was just released a few months ago from seven years as the Stake Relief Society President) house along with the Spanish elders in our ward. The next evening we joined in the monthly potluck dinner at the clubhouse for the residents here at Scenic River Villas.    FYI: we have yet to see a scenic river anywhere around here.

On Friday morning we went with the Balls for a tour at South Valley Farms. SVF is an affiliate of the church in their farm lands program. They have 38,000 acres planted with 3.6 million almond trees in about ten varieties. It was so interesting to see the whole process and what they do. It is harvest time so we got to see the machines shake the trees for about six seconds and all the almonds fall to the ground. In about a week a sweeper machine sweeps them to the center of the aisle. Then a vacuum type machine comes and picks them all up. Then they are transported to the plant where they are put in huge stacks until they are processed. They go through many different shaking, blowing, and pounding stages to clean all the husks, dirt, rocks, and twigs off them and finally the shells. They sell most of their product overseas to places like Japan and China. It is quite an operation. I don't think I will ever look at an almond the same again!

                      

Saturday, on our "P Day" we went to Wasco for their 49th annual Rose Festival. Wasco is a small town about thirty miles northwest of Bakersfield where 55% of the roses grown in the United States are grown there. They had a fun parade and their lst annual car show in the park after. James loved that! There were even two blue '58 Chevy Impala's, but they were not as nice as ours. Then we took a bus tour out to the huge rose fields. The roses were so colorful and amazing!

I made two fleece blankets for Project Linus. The Community Make-A-Blanket day was the same day as the Rose Festival, so I just made them at home. James was so kind to model them.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!