Week of May 1 - 7

This week in Bakersfield gave us a taste of the hot weather to come. We had a couple of 90+ days, Wednesday it was 101, Thursday 103, and then Saturday we got relief with 63, and lastly it was only 71 today with rain last night.

Monday evening we went to Family Home Evening/Book of Mormon class at our church that the missionaries in our ward started. Only people from the Spanish Group showed up, so it was in Spanish. We took turns reading the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, Nephi 1, and discussing it. Even though Nephi 1 is the most read and reread book in the Book of Mormon, it is always good to read it again and see what insights you can gain. Then we played "Signs". It took us and some of the others awhile to catch on to the game, but we all laughed a lot and had a fun time together. It is going to be a weekly event.

Elder Hulet, Elder Labrum, Elder Atkinson, Elder Cruz, Elder Hathcock, Elder Thomason

Tuesday we went to the Los Angeles Temple and took Melva Arce, who was baptized about six months ago. We left at 6:30am and picked up Melva's niece, Marian, in Altadena (next to Pasadena).

Traffic getting to Los Angeles was a solid sea of cars as usual.

Elder Jacobsen (he baptized Melva)  and Elder Labrum  along with Brother John Olsen, from our ward, met us at the temple visitor's center. Marian stayed there with all the sweet sister missionaries who took good care of her while the rest of us went into the temple baptistery. They showed her around the visitor center, introduced her to the church, gave her a Book of Mormon, and got her contact information. Melva was so excited and nervous! She took five family names to the temple. She was baptized for both of her grandmothers  and  Elder Jacobsen

was baptized for both of her grandfathers and her father. Elder Labrum did the baptizing, James and Brother Olsen were the witnesses and did the confirming after. It was an emotional and spiritual experience for all of us, but especially for Melva. She said she was thinking about her grandmas and when she came up out of the water she could feel them with her. Her heart was beating so fast, and yet she said she felt such peace and comfort. She said the temple was so peaceful! We took pictures by the temple and took Melva and Marian just inside the beautiful, huge temple doors to see inside and feel the spirit. A group of departing missionaries from the Los Angeles Mission came in just then and Elder Labrum was blown away when he saw someone he knew. They stepped outside for a minute to take pictures. She was a high school friend and is a friend of his girlfriend. We said our goodbyes to Brother Olsen and the missionaries. Then we drove to Alhambra, another Los Angeles suburb, where we had lunch at the Diner on Main. Marian and Melva got to visit some more. Marian used to live there and had some business to take care of, so that is where we left her. It was a very nice day for all of us.

Elder Jacobsen (Preston, ID), Elder Labrum (Ogden, UT), Marian, Melva, Sister Porras, Elder Porras, Brother Olsen

Wednesday Grace and Jayline Martinez turned 18. We dropped by to tell them "Happy Birthday" and drop off birthday bags. They bags contained a microwave potato bag and a couple of sweet potatoes. They love potatoes, but have never had sweet potatoes.

Of course, we went out for Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo at Senior Pepe's Restaurant. James had beef fajitas and I had caldo de polo (chicken soup).
YUMMY!

Saturday we went to two baptisms. The first one was for Areda Tallon, who is about 60 years old. She had to be baptized three times because the first two times her leg kept coming up out of the water. The second baptism was for Jackson Wells, an eight year old boy. His mother, Lisa, was baptized last December. They are in our ward.

Bakersfield has roaches. We had heard that, but had not seen any until a couple months ago. Then we started seeing a few in our apartment. Thankfully, they are not the "Texas-sized" roaches we used to see in Texas. They sprayed our apartment and we haven't seen anymore lately. Bakersfield also seems to have quite a few spiders. We have seen a few in our apartment and more on our little patio.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of April 24 - 30

Zone Conferences came around again, and because of time constraints they had to schedule several of them together. James and I attended. Tuesday we drove to Lancaster where the Palmdale, Lancaster, and Lancaster East Zones had a Zone Conference all together.

Sister Layton talked about why we were born 20 centuries after Jesus Christ walked the earth and not at some other time in history. She said, "These are your days!" We are here to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ and help gather the elect of Israel before He comes again. She said the Book of Mormon is the instrument of the "gathering" and you can rely on the promise in Moroni 10:4-5. President Layton talked about the power of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon allows us to get out of the way and be taught by the Spirit. The Book of Mormon is one translation away from the prophets who wrote it, unlike the Bible which was translated many times from many languages. President Layton also taught the missionaries how they should answer their investigators questions and answer their objections using the Book of Mormon. He said Bible bashing gets you no where. He said don't open the Book of Mormon to prove a point; open it to let the Spirit teach. He asked several of the missionaries to bear their testimony about the power of the Book of Mormon. Our own Elder Holland shared his very personal and powerful testimony. He said he grew up in a family that were not regular scripture readers. His dad made some bad choices and ended up in prison. While there, his dad read the Book of Mormon and received peace. A couple years later when Elder Holland's brother was a junior in high school he tried to commit suicide. His dad told him to read the Book of Mormon and it would help him and bring him peace. The next thing that happened was Elder Holland's dad called him and said he was leaving the family. Elder Holland said he read the Book of Mormon that week himself, and he felt peace and came to know it was true.
James showed a short safety video and talked about driving safely. I gave a short instruction on how to fill out the Baptism and Confirmation Records correctly and completely. The next day we went to Bakersfield Zone Conference with all four of the Bakersfield Zones and did our presentations again. We left after lunch, so we didn't get pictures of the zones, but below is a picture taken at lunch.

Thursday morning we picked up a sandwich tray from Too Fat Sandwiches, cookies from Walmart, and I fixed big fruit and vegetable trays to send with President and Sister Layton. They had a Sister Training Leader meeting in Tehachapi and wanted to feed the sisters lunch.                            

Friday night was the monthly senior dinner group. We ate at Great Castle, a Chinese restaurant. After dinner, we and the Balls went over to Jerry and Lynette Thomas's (mission housing inspectors) house to play games. We played "Mexican Train Dominoes" and "Golf", a fun card game.

Saturday we went to the big Western Street Rod Nationals car show at the fairgrounds. There were so many cars it was hard to know which direction to walk. James loves to talk to the Studebaker and '58 Chevy owners and show them pictures of his cars.

After the car show, we went to the Kern County Museum and Pioneer Village. We learned about black gold (oil) and saw all the old stores, businesses, jail, church, school, and houses that they have put in a village-like setting.

The Beale Memorial Clock Tower in front of the museum was rebuilt in 1964 after it was badly damaged from the earthquakes in 1952. It was originally built in 1904. It is a pretty cool Bakersfield landmark.










Saturday night was the YW fundraiser for girls camp at our ward. It was a spaghetti dinner followed by a dessert and service auction.

YW entertaining at the spaghetti dinner. Interesting fact - We just found out that Sister Hansen (in the blue shirt) is pregnant with twins. She has four children of her own. However, these babies are not hers. She is being a surrogate for her friend.

Have you noticed that our mission seems to revolve around food and dinners!

The other night James was dreaming a man with weapons was coming after him and he was trying to roll behind the couch to hide, so he rolled right off the bed! That was a rude awakening! No blood, just a little sore. He said he is worried because when we go home our bed is much higher and the fall will be much further if he has more wild dreams. This is the third time this has happened. I think we are going to have to get a safety bed rail for his side of the bed.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of April 17 - 23

 

We were suppose to get six new missionaries Monday about noon, but only Elder Coronado came because he was traveling from Oklahoma. The others were coming from the MTC in Provo and spent the night in Phoenix because they could not all get on the flight. They did not arrive  until 6:40 pm on Tuesday evening. President Layton reminded us that the way you spell missionary is "f-l-e-x-i-b-l-e". We all had to readjust our schedules and plans. We had already set up for lunch at the stake center, and I was just about to turn the ovens on to bake the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Instead of lunch on Monday for the arriving missionaries and lunch on Tuesday for the departing missionaries, we had the arriving lunch on Wednesday. It all worked out in the end because we are "flexible". Elder Coronado was only in our mission four days because his visa arrived just after he got here and on Thursday he flew to Guatemala where he was originally called. He served in Guatemala previously for about eight months, but got sick and had to go home to Oklahoma for almost a year. Then he was called back to the same mission in Guatemala. It makes one wonder why he came to our mission for just a few days. He told President Layton he knew why he came. He said our missionaries love their missions  and really want to serve. He said it was not that way where he was serving in Guatemala. Elder Coronado said he is going to try to change things when he goes back now that he saw how it was here.

Seven sisters and one lone elder, Elder Diaz, returned home.

Our six new arrived missionaries plus their companions enjoying lunch.

Thursday we were finally able to take Melva to the Family History Center and opened her an LDS account and signed into Family Search. Since she had the names of her grandparents on both sides and a few dates and places, less than an hour later, she walked out with those names  plus that of her father ready to take to the temple. We were all so excited! Now, we are planning a time when we can take her to the temple.

Friday night we had another potluck dinner at the mission home with the mission staff and Elder and Sister Brown, farmland missionaries from the "nut" farm (almond farm). We ate outside on the patio by the pool.

We each wrote down two things about ourselves that no one (except our spouse) would know. We found out that Dr. Brooks was a good friend of Ted Bundy's and even set his sister up on a date with Bundy. Wow! James wrote he worked in a flower shop and held state records for running when he was in Jr High. I wrote that I grew up in a house with no indoor toilet and then moved to a house previously owned by polygamists.

Sister Layton says they use the pool quite often. They have a pool at their home in Utah also.

Look what I have for my computer desktop at the mission office! This beautiful group of people pop up every time I open my computer. AMAZING!

Last week our mission had fifteen baptisms! This week there was only one. We attended it. Brittany Faulkner, a young mother of a ten month old daughter, was baptized.

Sunday was our Ward Conference. After Sacrament Meeting we talked to the man sitting next to us and found out this was his first time in twenty years to come to church. I asked him, "How did it feel?" He replied, "Like I have been gone too long!" Hopefully, he will continue to come. Bishop Butler gave a talk and had an important question that we should all ask ourselves, "Is your Heavenly Father pleased with your service?" We can also ask Heavenly Father directly if He is pleased and what we need to do to be better.
They did not have the Spanish Group Sacrament Meeting today, so we got home from church earlier.

Bakersfield, California is #1! This is not a good thing however. Bakersfield tops the list of the 10 US cities most polluted by short-term particle pollution. Cache Valley, Utah came in #10 on the "State of the Air" report. That's not good either.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of April 10 - 16 (Easter)

This Easter week our mission  president asked the missionaries to study and reflect on the Savior's last week of his earthly ministry, so we did. Jesus Christ taught the people so many great parables and lessons that last week. He instituted the sacrament. He suffered so much for each one of us by taking upon himself our sins, heartaches, trials, sicknesses, etc. Then he was resurrected so each one of us can be resurrected one day and live with him and our Heavenly Father! That was the most momentous weekend in the history of the world. One of our missionaries who came into the office on Friday asked why it was called "Good Friday". He thought it should be called "Bad Friday" because Jesus was crucified. Good Friday is good because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That is why Good Friday is so dark and so Good at the same time.

Here is an interesting little tidbit:  Mary lives next door to us and Martha lives next door to her. They are both widows and both of them have moved here in just the last few months.

Thursday afternoon we picked up Grace and Jayline (they were on Spring Break) and drove to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve near Lancaster. The California Poppy was named the State Flower in l903. Poppies close up at night, when it is cloudy, or when the cold wind blows. It was cloudy, kind of chilly, and very windy so the poppies were mostly closed. It would have looked more like a sea of orange if they had been open.

We drove the girls down the Musical Road in Lancaster to hear "The Lone Ranger" theme song. Then we ate dinner at Sizzler before we drove home. Sizzler has a nice salad bar which I love and was good for Jayline and Grace since they are both vegetarians. James enjoyed steak and shrimp.

Friday Elder Pyfer from Castle Rock was released and returned home to get better. He said he has bad headaches and anxiety that make him unable to function. He hopes to be able to get it under control and return back to his mission in a couple of months. He has been out on his mission for about nine months and has been a very good missionary.

We saw a movie, "The Zookeeper's Wife", Friday night. It was a true story of a couple in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. He was director of the Warsaw Zoo and she loved animals. The Germans came in and killed many of the animals and took the best ones. They hid one of their Jewish friends in their home and then were able to save 300 others from the Warsaw Ghetto. It was really moving!

On Saturday we made some drop by visits to an investigator and two recently baptized members, visited, and took them some pumpkin fruit muffins.

Then we went to Jayden Harlow's baptism. He is a 19 year old who will be going to the Young Single Adult Ward. His grandfather baptized him. The baptismal font's plug was not working well, so the water was draining almost as fast as it was filling. Jayden had to sit down and then lean back to get completely immersed. His parents were not active, so he did not grow up with the church. He said maybe they will get reactivated now that he is baptized.

Sister Harmon and Sister Hayes are the sweet missionaries who taught him.                                                                

Later, we met Elder Rowley and Hulet at the church along with Mike who they are teaching. We all gave him a tour of the church building to help him get familiar with what it looks like and what takes place on Sundays and other days of the week. We answered the questions he had. He has to work tomorrow, so it will be the next Sunday before he can attend.

Sunday morning we went to the Brimhall Ward to hear Jane Morris report on her mission to Chili. She is the daughter of Matt & Patti Morris who are Church Service Missionaries (vehicles, newspaper & referrals) in our mission. We saw the Gray's (where we had dinner later) there also. He told me that another one of our high school classmates, Philip Lewis, was in the 5th Ward. The 5th Ward shares the building with our ward, Bakersfield 2nd Ward. So, when we got to our church building we asked around and found him. We had a nice reunion. His wife's brother, Eric Clyde, was also one of our classmates. Then, just before the Spanish Sacrament Meeting we were talking to the father-in-law of our group leader and found out that his wife, Sandra Page, was also one of my classmates. They are here from Simi Valley visiting their daughter and family. Sandra stayed home because she wasn't feeling well, so we didn't get to see her.  Sandra's husband graduated in 1969 like we did, but from Sky View High. He also graduated from Utah State in l974 like James did.

The music on Easter Sunday is always beautiful and taking the sacrament is extra meaningful!

We had Easter dinner at Maile & Waylon Gray's house. I graduated from high school with her. A couple months ago I saw her at the Los Angeles Temple and recognized her. They live in Bakersfield, but have their house up for sale and will soon be moving to Iowa where one of their sons live.

                               (Sunday certainly seemed to be a high school reunion day!)

Alecia and classmate, Philip Lewis and Alecia and classmate, Maile Roberts Gray

We talked to Janel and her boys on Easter. They are all in Prague. Yesterday, they had dinner at Martin's parents house. They ate rabbit. James teased the boys that they ate the Easter bunny.

We certainly missed the holiday with our family, but were so happy they carried on without us. They had Easter dinner at our house and even had the annual Easter egg hunt in the yard.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of April 3 - 9

Look who we found in California! Our son, Tony, and his two managers went to their Big O Tire Convention in San Diego Monday thru Wednesday. The convention wrapped up Wednesday after lunch, so we were able to meet them in Pomona. It was about a two to two and a half hour drive for each of us. We met at Wally Parks NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Motorsports Museum. We arrived about an hour before they did, but it was okay. It happened to be the first Cruise-In Car Show of the season out in the parking lot. James was in seventh heaven looking at all the old cars and showing off the pictures on his phone of all his old cars to anyone who was interested. Several people commented that we were "overdressed" for the occasion. Yes, we were. Finally, Tony, Nick, and Shawn got there. It was so good to see Tony after more than nine months! We enjoyed the museum and car show together. Then we ate dinner at a little Mexican tacueria that turned out to have very good food. Both Nick and Shawn each have three children and are trying to be good fathers. We gave them the little booklet, "Three Simple Ways to Become A Happier Family", during our dinner conversation. Nick seemed to be especially interested as he thumbed thru and read some of it. He said, "I think we will read this together as a family". On Monday, they had a chance to go to the Mormon Battalion Museum in San Diego which they all said was pretty interesting and cool. I had to remind Tony that he had a relative (his 4th great grandfather) who served in the Mormon Battalion. Another year at their convention in Arizona, Tony took them to the Visitor's Center at the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Then it came time to say goodbye. After the hugs, they climbed into their convertible, waved, and drove off to Hollywood. Nick had never been to California so Tony wanted him to see a few things. They had to have the top down on their Mustang even in the evening when it got a little cool, otherwise big Shawn and Nick would not fit in the car. Shawn had a real struggle trying to get his seatbelt buckled in the back seat. Finally, after about five minutes of both James and Tony helping him it was a success!

Troy called to tell us  they just had the sister missionaries over that their ward and our ward share. He said one of them is Sister Slaughter from Bakersfield. He told her his parents were on a mission in Bakersfield. Troy suggested to the missionaries that they should knock on our door when Tyson (the guy living in our house) would be home and ask for us. That would give them a good way to visit with Tyson about the church.

The Slaughter's are in our stake. We don't know them, but have heard the name. They just returned last July from being mission president in the San Antonio Mission. We were able to find their phone number and James called James Slaughter to  tell him that his daughter is serving in our home ward. They had a nice visit and Brother Slaughter had even been to Gonzales, Texas (James' birth place) a few times since it was in his mission. Small world!

We attempted to visit a couple of investigators with Elder Rowley and Elder Hulet this week, but nobody was home. We also tried to help find a homeless guy who is living here. His mother, who lives near Anaheim, called  the mission office concerned about him and also sent a small package for him. He has not shown up yet.

For some odd reason, we went to three movies over the weekend; "Going In Style" on Friday and both "Queen Of The Desert" and "Case For Christ" on Saturday.

We should have saved our pictures and information about palm trees that we posted last week until this week since today is "Palm Sunday". Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. It marks the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem and the people laid down palm branches in his path. The donkey is an animal of peace symbolizing his entry as the Prince of Peace. Palm branches symbolized goodness and victory.  

                                                                                          Check out Prince of Peace on lds.org this week and watch the beautiful, poignant video. There are also 8 principles of peace to help us find peace in our lives. Each principle is explained with a short video.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of March 27 - April 2

We have been enjoying near perfect days and weather lately. We have also been enjoying our pretty daffodils.

This week was pretty ordinary with nothing very exciting to report. We just went to work everyday and tried to keep busy. Missionaries came into the office to get large print Book of Mormons, a German Book of Mormon, media Bibles, a children's Book of Mormon, pass along cards, and their packages. A few brought in their baptismal records, car receipts, and a set of sisters brought their car so James could look at a dent and scratch. President Layton was doing interviews this week at the different stake centers in Bakersfield. Sister Layton called James Thursday morning to say they had a flat tire in the church parking lot. James went over to fix it. A man was walking his dog near the  parking lot and went to get his hydraulic jack to make changing the tire easier. That was very nice and helpful. Then James took their car to get the tire fixed and ended up buying four new tires. He didn't even go to Big O Tires because the church has used a local tire shop for a long time. James told the salesman (who was not familiar with the church account) it was the President's car, and he looked at him very strangely. He thought that James looked quite official with his white shirt and tie, and his first impression was that it was Obama's car. Then they had a good laugh about it after James explained about the mission and the mission president.

The restoration company was in and out of the office for a couple days finishing up the water heater leak problem. On the third day, I had an inspiration to ask the men if they knew that Jesus Christ's church had been restored to the earth and would they want to know more. It would have been a great conversation starter, but they did not come anymore because they were finished with their part of the work. I missed a great opportunity. A couple other guys came to put the new sheet rock up and paint. The man in charge asked us if we were Mormons. He said his mother and brother joined our church some time ago. We talked to him about it and why he hasn't joined. James ended up giving both him and his helper Book of Mormons (one English and one Spanish) before they left. They both said thank you.

We went shopping to buy me a new purse because mine broke. Purse shopping is not easy and finding the right purse (size, color, shape, straps, price, etc.) is very difficult. I think I love the third purse I brought home and will return the other two.

People in Bakersfield have always been so nice and friendly. However, we encountered two different men Friday evening when we were shopping and doing errands that were not so nice. They each seemed to want to start an argument about our religion, but we kept our cool.

Saturday we had 50 baptisms in our mission. Our missionaries have really been working extra hard!

April Fool's! Actually, we didn't have any baptisms scheduled because of General Conference.

General Conference this weekend was wonderful! We watched most of the sessions on our computer at home. It was fun to see my cuz, Alan Niederhauser, singing his heart out in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.                           (Alan is the blonde man on the far left.)

President Thomas S. Monson, President Henry B. Eyring, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

On Sunday, I made a big fruit salad and pumpkin raspberry/blueberry muffins that we took over to the potluck lunch with the Hispanic members at our stake center. They invited all the missionaries that were there to eat with them also. It is such a nice tradition they have to eat a meal together between conference sessions. They have carried on this tradition for about twenty years. Then we stayed and watched the last session of conference at the church.

There were three sets of sister missionaries watching the conference at the church and a bunch of elders. The sisters had already left when we decided to take a picture, so here are the elders.
(The elder standing to the left of James is 6'8".)

Did you know that there are 2600 varieties of palm trees? Surprisingly, there is only one kind of palm tree that is native to California, the California Palm. The others have been imported and what would California be without them. Bakersfield has lots of different kinds of palm trees. Some are very skinny and tall, some are short, and some look like huge pineapples. Palm trees make you feel like you are on vacation.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!

Week of March 20-26

I swore off sugar for now. A few months ago Sister Harmon "invited" me to stop eating sugar. She "testified" it would be a beneficial move. I told her I was not ready to accept her invitation. A few years ago I did stop eating sugar for at least six months or longer and it was a good thing. Anyway, I finally decided it was time for me to do it again. So far so good. I have not had any 🍬, 🍰, 🍨, 🍪, 🍫,  etc. all week. I feel like I have been blessed because those things have surprisingly not been much of a temptation to me.

That is the Tiwi mounted on the window.

Wednesday we went to Lancaster for Zone Conferences. We drove Sister Layton's old car down there and traded it out with another car that we drove back that some of the elders had which is going to be sold. Of course, the cars had Tiwi's in them so James had to really watch his p's & q's while he was driving. After lunch we gave all the elders and sisters new insurance cards to put in their cars. At the conclusion of Zone Conference, one elder had to view the defensive driving video. That evening we had dinner at Marie Calendar's with President & Sister Layton, Elder & Sister Richey, and three church service missionary couples who serve as housing inspectors. When we were getting ready to leave and just standing around visiting, this woman sitting at a nearby table asked me if we were going to church. I started talking to them and told them we were senior missionaries for our church. Her husband asked if the boys in black pants and white shirts belonged to us. I proudly said yes. They had a few questions and I told them what we did. They have been married 59 years and have 4 children, 7 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren who all live in Lancaster. They all go to church together each Sunday at a bible church. We told them they are very blessed to have all their family near them and they agreed. Hopefully, we spread some good will about Mormons. Then we went to a late movie at Blvd. Cinema in downtown Lancaster. The "blvd." is very nice with lots of trees and vertical parking in the center of the street. The movie theatre had $5 movies for seniors on Wednesday. The theatre had huge, leather recliners which were so comfortable. After the movie, a man on the street saw James open the car door for me and remarked to him, "What a gentleman!"

President Layton told the missionaries that Elder Rasband and others have said there are three places  where we are on "holy ground"; temples, churches, and our homes. He talked to them about keeping their apartments clean and organized so they can be a holy place and a place where they can feel the spirit. He reminded them that Elder Oaks taught that "if we want to talk to God, we pray. If we want to listen to God, we read the scriptures." He also quoted Sister Beck, who was quoting someone else, "Don't wallow in imperfections; starve the problems, feed the opportunities."  President Layton's main theme for the conference was how the "power of the word" can bless people and how they can access it. He talked about getting to know the Savior as opposed to just knowing who he is. He told them that the great book, "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage was written in the Salt Lake Temple. He also told the missionaries that the first time he read the book when he was a young man, he struggled with the vocabulary in it. Now, he understands it better. Sister Layton talked about the Christ like attribute, diligence. She stressed we have a responsibility for our time (don't waste it and use it effectively) and a responsibility for our attitude (be positive, patient, and joyful). President Layton said he did the math and figured out the missionaries have 48 hours per week to proselyte and give service. He said he wants them to be accountable for those hours in their weekly letter to him so they will be more aware of how they use their time.

We spent the night in Lancaster because Thursday we also attended the other Zone Conference so James could switch out the car and give out the new insurance cards. We left early at lunch time so we could eat at BJ's Restaurant and Brewery in Palmdale. Palmdale is just next door to Lancaster. We asked if Rob Roberts (they are the people we met at Disneyland last weekend that invited us to sit at their table) was working and were able to get seated in his area. A couple minutes after we sat down, Rob and his daughter came over looking kind of surprised, but pleased that we came. His daughter was on Spring Break and they didn't have a babysitter, so he brought her to work. She spotted us when we came in and told her dad. We had a nice lunch and a very attentive waiter. Before we left, we gave Rob a pass along card with our phone number and an invitation to have the missionaries come and teach his family how they can be an eternal family. We'll see what happens. Sophie has her Disneyland "diamond anniversary" ears on. 

The water heater at the mission office building broke and caused water damage in our office and the office next door. All of these boxes of Book of Mormons were in the closet where most of the damage was. Thankfully, the boxes were only a little water logged, but the books inside of them were okay. They had a restoration company come drill holes in the walls and extract water and dry it out with fans.

On Saturday, James picked up Chris. He met his dad and sister and said they were very nice. Chris was just baptized a few weeks ago. James asked him how his dad was doing with his decision to join the church, and he said things were much better now. James took him to the mall to shop for Sunday clothes. They went to JC Penney's and got some good bargains. James got him two pairs of slacks, a suit jacket, a belt, and two white shirts. Then they had lunch. We have a box of ties at the office that someone donated some we took him three ties on Sunday. One of the missionaries showed him how to tie a tie. Chris looked very handsome blessing the sacrament and we think he felt good.

We went to pick up Mary Vega so she could attend a baptism with us. Her baptism date is April.  Elders Rowley and Hulet met us there to help get her wheelchair in the car. They told us she had fallen and hurt her hip and were also going to give her a blessing. She invited James to give her the blessing, and he gave her a beautiful blessing of healing. She said she had just gotten back from the hospital and was not feeling up to going. She also has dialysis Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and that takes a toll on her.

Kyli with some of the young women from her ward who came to her baptism.

The baptism we went to was for Kyli Dudley, a fourteen year old girl. As part of the program after the talks and her baptism, Kyli shared her testimony and conversion story. She said she grew up in a nonreligious home, but knew about prayer and had faith. She was having a difficult time last summer and was praying for help and was trying to focus on the positive things in her life. Gavin, a friend from school, texted her and invited her to his church. She liked the way he acted joyous, so she went. She said she was thankful for her struggles because without them she wouldn't have found Christ. She said, "I felt comfort, gained faith, and became happy."  We were surprised that she was only 14 because she was very articulate and mature. Her mother and grandmother attended.









About a month ago we received the results of our DNA test that we did through My Heritage. The test kits came in pretty boxes. We swabbed the insides of our checks and sent them off. We had to wait about three months for the results.   Drum roll!!!







James' ethnicities are:  48.2% Europe (40.7% Iberian from South Europe and 7.5% Scandinavian from North and West Europe), 38.5% Central American, and 13.3% Middle Eastern.
Alecia's ethnicities are: 96.2% Europe (7.1% Iberian from South Europe and 3.7% East European) and 3.8% Middle Eastern.
We were both surprised about the Middle Eastern. Pretty interesting!

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!