November 14 - 20

Elder Holmgren came into the mission office to take pictures with us the day before he finished his mission and went home to Iowa. He was one of the Assistants until the last couple of weeks, so we got pretty close to him. (Elder Holmgren is on the left and his companion is Elder Werrett.)
The missionaries all seem to especially really love Elder Porras. He loves to talk and visit with them and vice versa. The gift of gab is definitely one of his gifts.

I had a chance to open my mouth again this week and I did it. A certain Fed-X man always delivers the boxes of Book of Mormons and other stuff we order from Church Distribution. He came last Friday and delivered part of the shipment, so I knew he would be back in a day or two with the rest of it. I had a Book of Mormon ready with my testimony in it. Sure enough he came on Monday. When he was finished bringing in about five loads on his dolly, I asked him if he knew what it was that he was delivering. He said he knew it was books. I said, "Yes, they are the Book of Mormon. I thought you would like to know what you are delivering, and I want to give you this one." He took it and thanked me. He should be back in another week or two with the next order, so I will ask him if he has had a chance to read any of the Book of Mormon and what he thinks about it.

We attended one of the Zone Conference on Thursday. This zone has fourteen sisters and twelve elders. It was unusual to see more sisters than elders at an event. Zone Conferences used to happen four times per year, but starting in January they are going to have them between every transfer which usually happens every six weeks. I had just finished the new calendar for 2017 when President Layton came in from the Mission President's conference they had been at and said they were instructed to have Zone Conferences more often. So he and Sister Layton are trying to squeeze everything in and will give me an updated version, so I can do a new calendar.

Once a month The Villas has a potluck dinner for the residents. There was lots of good food. They have a man who comes with his electric guitar and plays oldies during dinner. You can see him back in the far corner of the picture on the right.

On Saturday we went with Bruce and Ingrid to the Sequoia National Forest. It was a couple hour drive. As we got higher in the mountains, it became smoky and we could smell fire. It was very interesting to see the blackened ground and trees, smoking hot spots, and even flames and burning logs. There were  Forest Service firemen and their trucks along the road every now and then. We came to find out we were in the middle of the Meadows Fire, one of four fires burning in the area. This fire started a few days ago with a lightening strike. When it started it was only a half acre and had spread to 3,000 acres.
 

James was walking ahead of me and told me to come because he wanted to show me something. I couldn't believe it. Somebody had carved our initials on the bottom of a fallen tree. That was pretty cool!

We stopped at The Trail of 100 Giants and marveled at the giant sequoia trees along the pathway. Look how big the root system of these fallen trees are. It made us dizzy to look up and see how tall the trees were. They were amazing to see, and it was so nice to be out in nature.

We hadn't driven very far when we were stopped on the road. One of the forest service guys told us they were cutting down a tree that was burning and they didn't know which way it would fall. After about fifteen minutes of waiting he came back and told us they had closed the road because the fires had become too dangerous. We had to turn around and take an alternative route back to Bakersfield.

Below is another Bakersfield landmark, Guthrie's Alley Cat. It is a friendly bar (just drinks, no food) that has been there since 1940. It is known for its neon sign. It is on Wall Street, which is actually just a little alley in downtown. Inside there is a large caricature drawing down by Al Hirschfeld of himself. Al Hirschfeld was a famous "characteristic". Harley-Davidson comes to Wall Street every year and does photo shoots because they like the old, rustic look of the alley.                  

The picture on the right is our little pumpkin pincushion I made for a Thanksgiving decoration. 

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of Nov 7 - 13

Fall in Bakersfield is different than what we were used to in Colorado. There is not much color in the leaves. They just sort of turn brownish, get crispy, and fall off. However, it is so nice to see all the flowering bushes and trees this time of year, which of course we do not have in Colorado. The temperatures are really perfect; 65-80 degrees. We like the early morning light, but it is rough getting used to darkness at 5:00 pm is rough getting used to.

Who would have guessed that Trump will be our new 45th President of the United States! It was quite a stunning, shocking, and incredible political feat he pulled off. At least, our country will probably never have a dull moment these next four years.



On Wednesday we finished our 65 day mission wide challenge to read the Book of Mormon! We were looking for and underlining the doctrine of Christ as we read; faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The book is full of references and examples of these
doctrines. They are repeated over and over among the peoples in the Book of Mormon. We also saw the cycle of when things were good, people's pride started taking over and they forgot about Christ. We need to be diligent and not let that happen to us. If we keep having and using our faith, repenting, renewing our baptismal covenants thru the sacrament, and listening to the Holy Ghost we will be able to endure (enjoy) to the end. The whole Book of Mormon really is another testament of Jesus Christ!



Thursday on our afternoon off, we enjoyed a great lunch at the Villas club house for veterans. They had it a day early. Then I got my hair cut (first time since we have been gone) and James went to a pre-colonoscopy doctor appointment. After, we did errands. That evening we had a lovely dinner at Matt and Patty Morris's house along with Ingrid and Bruce Ball. We ate outside on their patio and  enjoyed our fancy sandwiches and homemade tomato soup. The huge slices of pumpkin pie for dessert really topped it off.

On Friday, Veteran's Day, my very own veteran was treated royally. He got the oil changed on the car, a car wash, a haircut, hotdog lunch at Wienerschnitzel, dinner at Texas Roadhouse on their patio, and a chocolate custard filled Crispy Crème donut all for free in honor of his service. It is so nice how the businesses honor Veterans on this special day! It sounds like it was a party all day, but we also worked.

James had a sweet potato along with his steak. He thought they gave him a regular baked potato because it was white. Surprisingly, it tasted like a sweet potato. We learned there is such a thing as white, sweet potatoes.







Saturday from 1:30 till almost 5:00 we sat in the chapel of our stake center with all the missionaries in our mission and were instructed by an apostle of the Lord, Elder David A. Bednar. He is an apostle just like Peter, James, John, and others were! He was accompanied by Elder Ian S. Ardern, a general authority seventy from New Zealand. Some of the points Elder Bednar made were: stop taking notes (writing on the large plates), instead just write your inspirations (writing on the small plates); hear what is not being said; pray with expectations to act; just get going; the deeper your conversion the more you focus on the basic doctrines; it is important to observe, listen, and discern before you speak; don't look for big, defining, dramatic moments in your life - it is the consistency of small things which provides the big effect; steadiness thru tribulations is a source of great joy; and being His agents is more important than have agency. Elder Bednar invited the missionaries to answer and ask questions when the Spirit spoke to them. The spirit was very strong all thru the meeting, but especially when one of our struggling missionaries, Elder Watkins, got up and said, "I just want to know what I need not what I want." When Elder Bednar asked him a further question he stood there with the microphone for probably five minutes getting emotional and trying to speak. The room was so quite and everyone was feeling his pain and struggle. I don't remember what he finally was able to answer, but it was so honest. Elder Bednar told him it was profound. Several times before Elder Bednar made a point or answered a question he said, "Buckle up, here we go". Elder Bednar does not have favorite scriptures, but instead he has favorite themes in the scriptures. His favorite theme is the pattern of "one by one". He told us that "one by one" is mentioned six times in the Book of Mormon,  is how Jesus ministered, and is how we do things in the church. At the conclusion of our meeting, Elder Bednar left us with his testimony and an apostolic blessing that we would have "faith in Christ to have an eye single to his glory and you will see more clearly who you are, why you are here, and who you will become".  After the closing prayer and hymn, Elder Bednar came up to the microphone one more time and said he is not musically inclined at all, but for years he had the music to a song in his head. He did not know how to get it out. At a function, he met a well known pianist and told him his dilemma. The pianist worked with him for a while until finally he had the music just right. Then Elder Bednar wrote the words to his song and titled it "One By One". Elder Bednar hooked his iPhone to a speaker and played the song for us. It was beautiful.

Saturday evening we went to a barbeque with the Ball's at a member's house in their ward, Javier and Petra. It was such a nice evening to eat outside again. They hired someone to come cook tacos for them. James is such a good missionary. Before you know it he was over talking Spanish to that guy and his teenage helper. He gave them each a Pass-along Card.

One day this week a Fed-X man brought in a package and asked if the  fruit snacks in the jar on the counter were for the taking. I got brave and said, "Sure, if you share a fruit of your labor with me first." I pointed to the scripture on the jar. He read it and thought for a minute and then shared with me. He said his six year old son has mild cerebral palsy and he was finally able to get him on a soccer team which he thinks will really help him. That was so sweet. I went on to tell him about    

how important families are and gave him a family pass-along card. He thanked me.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Week of October 31-November 6

On Halloween day we helped to welcome 9 new arriving missionaries, 6 elders and 3 sisters. Actually, one of the sisters was delayed coming from the Mexico MTC and did not arrive until late that night.  Four of them will be Spanish speaking. We were the only ones to "dress up" for the day. James and I take care of lunch for the arriving missionaries and the departing missionaries the next day. We picked up pizza and I made salad and orange jello with spiders and bugs. The jello was a hit! We even provided little "trick or treat" bags for them when they finished all their orientation stations.

On Halloween evening we had dinner at the President Layton's house with the new missionaries. Here they are around the table. We sat at another table with the Assistants and some of the other adults.

We had 10 missionaries go home. Sister Gonzalez (green sweater) was picked up at the mission office by her family. She lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousin who live in California a couple hours away. Her mother (orange blouse) came from Mexico to welcome her home.

Friday President Layton asked James to pick up Reed Markham from the airport about noon. He is the father of Elder Markham, one of our missionaries. Elder John Markham is from Florida and has been out on his mission about fourteen months. A week ago Saturday he had a bad mental breakdown and was hospitalized. His mother came to be with him right away, but later in the week she had a breakdown. So the dad came to fly home with them. By the time James got Reed to the hotel to see his wife she was really in bad shape, and they had to call the ambulance. Luckily, some of her sisters (she is from a family of 9 girls and 3 boys) from Los Angeles were there with her. She was admitted to the hospital. James and Reed went to the hospital where John was and had a conference with the doctors before he was released. They said he is probably bi-polar and something triggered this first incident. They came to pick me up and we went to eat dinner at In-N-Out, which was John's request. They didn't want John to know that his mother was in the hospital because they thought it might upset him. Well, Elder Markham was released from his mission on Saturday, the mom was released from the hospital today, and tomorrow they are flying home. This whole experience has been a real trial for the family. Hopefully, everyone will be able to get better.        

We should all be grateful for the gospel and the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, which make it possible to have an eternal perspective and manage these kind of unexpected situations that come up in everyone's lives. 

I saw President Layton in the office Friday afternoon and he told me how much he loved and appreciated Elder Porras especially today to help out with this situation. Elder Porras loves helping people and solving problems, so this was right down his alley and he loved being able to serve. James told me that several times during the day he prayed for help that he would know what to do and the Lord helped him every step of the way!   (President Layton often greets James by calling him "my friend".)

Saturday we attended two baptisms; one at 1:00 and the other at 2:30. We have attended a lot of baptisms since we have been here. They all follow the same basic program and perform the same ordinances, but each baptism is unique. The 1:00 baptism was for Cody Jans, a twenty year old single mother of a little boy about 1 1/2 or 2 years old. Her nonmember father and sister were there supporting her. She is dating a guy in a wheelchair and it was his family who had her in their home for the missionaries to teach her. His brother gave the talk on baptism and his dad baptized her and gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. He told a personal experience that happened about six years ago. His sons said they were going to go to the beach. He had a feeling they shouldn't go and told them, but he figured they were adults and he couldn't do much about it. He didn't give details about what happened, but something terrible did happen that put the one son in a wheelchair. For a long time he felt like it was his fault that he didn't stop them. However, he said the Holy Ghost has been there to comfort him.

The 2:00 baptism was for Christina Torrez, another single twenty year old  mother of two children.   Christina is living with another single mother who was just baptized about a year ago. That woman and her daughter gave the talks. They read their talks, but the spirit was strong. The daughter gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and wrote it in the form of a letter which she gave to Christina at the end. That was really nice and a good idea. She said a few months ago she was really depressed, having problems, and feeling like there was no reason to live. She felt the Holy Ghost giving her comfort and that saved her.

This weekend was our stake conference. Elder Ruben Acosta, an area seventy, and his wife were here. He came from Mexico when he was twelve and joined the church when he was eighteen. That was about thirty years ago. He had a real down to earth way of talking and teaching. He talked a lot about the "rising generation" in Mosiah 26:1-4 and what went wrong and the "rising generation" of our day. He says we must teach our children early about faith and repentance and make sure they know we have a testimony of Christ.

Our Bakersfield grandchildren, Jayline and Grace, played their violin and cello for the prelude and then they played "How Great Thou Art" for a special musical number along with our bishop's daughter who played the piano and the girls' teacher who also played her cello. It was just beautiful and amazing!

We shook Elder Acosta's hand after the meeting and got to visit with him and introduce Jayline and Grace to him and his wife.

Sunday morning at 8:30 there was a special meeting for the Latinos with Elder Acosta. It was held in the Relief Society room. Elder Acosta talked to them about basic things and really emphasized the importance of sending their children on missions and to college. James was asked to say the closing prayer in that meeting. Then we sat on the front row for the regular stake conference meeting at l0:00. The ushers had saved the front middle section for the Latinos. Elder Acosta talked about President Monson and his lifetime of setting the example of "rescuing the one". He said we can be instruments in the hand of God through finding and serving. Elder Acosta encouraged us to spend our time serving and building the kingdom of God. He said by doing that we are building our mansion in heaven and our righteousness will bless our generations to follow.  D&C 98:30

In downtown Bakersfield the distinctive Woolworth's signage still adorns this 1939 Art Moderne building. It is now an antique mall, but still has the Woolworth's luncheonette inside.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of October 24-30

We went to our ward Halloween Party Wednesday evening. It was the traditional chili and cornbread meal, trunk or treating, and games for the kids. However, it was all held outside in the church parking lot. Quite a few investigators and some people from the neighborhood attended.

Thursday afternoon we were pleasantly surprised by sprinkles on our windshield as we were driving. It was enough that we had to turn on the windshield wipers for a second.

Then about 4:00 am on Friday morning we were awakened by thunder and the sound of rain! It actually rained pretty hard for a couple hours. Our neighbor told us the last time it rained here was the first part of May. The rain was so refreshing! Friday we could actually see the mountains
pretty clearly because the rain cleaned the dust out of the air. It rained a little during the next night also. Today, Sunday, it rained again. That will probably be the end of the rain for a while now.

Friday night Melva Arce was baptized. Her sister and mother attended with her. They are from Panama originally, but have been in the United States for 40+ years. Her sister is visiting from Los Angeles, and Melva and her mother live together. We got to the church early so we gave them a tour. The mother and sister had never been in an LDS church. They had lots of questions, so James got to be a missionary and explain things to them. I helped Melva in and out of the font. She was understandably nervous and said her heart was just pounding. After she was baptized, her heart was really pounding, she was glowing, and said she felt so good. Elder Chamberlain was trying to translate for Brother Watson, the bishopric member, and Melva's sister and others were helping him from the audience. It was a joint effort which made for a great teaching moment. Brother Watson pointed out that our ward family is there to help when needed just as they were helping him. Jaylene and Grace, our favorite twins, played a beautiful hymn on their instruments accompanied by Elder Bennett playing the piano.

After the baptism we took Melva, her sister, and mother to dinner at the Olive Garden. They were so appreciative and thrilled. They said they had not been to a restaurant for probably a year because it is too expensive.

Sunday we picked Melva and her mother up for church again. The sister was not feeling well. James had the privilege of confirming Melva and giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost in Sacrament Meeting. Everyone, especially Melva, felt the Spirit and it set the stage for the Primary Sacrament Program that followed.

(Elders Sant, Chamberlain, and Jacobson)


Saturday we saw a "fruit" of our labor as we took Victor and Isabel Romero to the Los Angeles Temple. Victor had never been there because he was just baptized last June. We had helped him with his family history and printed his mother's temple ordinance card. We sat in the beautiful baptistery and watched as our Bishop baptized and confirmed Victor's mom by proxy. (Sister Gonzales from our ward was the proxy.) It was very special! We ate lunch in the temple cafeteria with other members of our ward. Then we spent some time at the temple visitor's center which is very nice. We all had such a lovely day together. The Romero's are from Peru and still have an apartment and car there because they visit every year. They have been in the United States over fifty years. They invited us to come visit Peru and stay there with them. We might just have to take them up on that offer sometime.

This shoe repair shop is a Bakersfield tourist attraction. It has been there for sixty-five years. The current owner is from Mexico and has run it for the last fifteen years. It is pretty cool!

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

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!