Sister's Conference

Sister Blue and I were invited to attend the all-day Sisters' Conference on Tuesday, January 29.  Too bad you can't somehow bottle the Spirit and keep it with you always and forever.  It was such a great day!  More on content later . . .

Sisters Lupashko (Ukraine), Tagaloa (Samoa),

Cooper, and Baliar (Philippines)

Sisters Harmer, Burwell, Tagaloa, Romero

Sisters Porter, Romero, Foster

Sisters Baliar, Putnam, Lillywhite, Vandenhazel

Sister Castro, Samuel, President Castro,

Elder Cary, Elder Brodie

Sisters Putnam, Baliar, Lillywhite, Porter,

Stoker, Kiyotani

Sisters Burwell, Bennett, Lupashko, Cooper,

Romero, Tagaloa, Anderson, Wilkinson, Vandenhazel

Sisters Hunter, Palafox, Foster, Bennett,

Bartschi, Walker, Baker

Sisters Spittler, Wright, Romero, Blue,

Anderson, Coleman

The "senior" table

Dean and Jo Harmer

Us :)

Marva and George Blue

  

Group Picture

All of us

Monday Night Delight

We enjoyed an incredibly sweet evening at the home of Bishop and Lori Hooke.  Also there were Elder Brodie and Elder Cary, as well as Emily (Hooke) and Carl, a neighbor.  We had a delicious ham dinner, after which Carl left.  Then the elders shared a great lesson, which they intend to use in their teaching from now on.  The crux of their message was, "Heaven is a continuation of an ideal home."  They were excited about the power of this.  We had a meaningful discussion of how we, as members who attempt to have an ideal home, need to just invite people in, not necessarily to have a gospel discussion, but perhaps to share a meal - invite people in so that they can feel the spirit and see the "workings" of a happy home!  Mostly to feel the Spirit :)

The elders had to leave for an appointment.  Then Bishop Hooke asked if we had time for him to sing us a song.  He got out his guitar and sang a beautiful song he composed about God's love shown to us by His beautiful creations, which he wrote years ago after a family trip to Yosemite Park.  One song led to another.  He has an awesome talent!  When he invited his wife to duet with him, I remembered my camera, and took a little video.  If I can figure out how to load it, I will add it.  This song was sweet, some of his other ones showed off his voice better.  Amazing talented family!  The Hookes are choice people -- always serving others.

Amazing Weekend

Highlight - Elder Neal L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve was at our Stake Conference this weekend, along with his petite and lovely wife, and Elder Higham of the Seventy.  WONDERFUL conference!  I only wish there was some way to convey how spiritually charged it was and how special it was to have the Lord's chosen right there in person to teach us.  It was SO FINE! 

Saturday's theme - the temple!  Go!  Appreciate!  Become empowered by attending often.  Heavenly Father loves us!

Sunday's theme - have faith!  No matter what! 

I DID take notes - I don't have them right here.  I may add more later.

After conference, we boogied over to Oxnard 2nd Ward to listen to Elder and Sister Blue speak in their sacrament meeting this afternoon.  They are such sweet and humble people.  Love them!

My soft spot for Kim has become even softer.  She badly wanted to attend conference.  (Mike was planning to go too.)  Kim now has the flu and obviously could go no where.  In spite of this, has remained positive and even seems to be developing faith.  When she went to check out of the motel Saturday morning, the proprietor told her she had another day's stay.  She does not know where this came from (neither do I).  Then, our kind bishop extended her two more nights.  She called me in tears -- this time tears of gratitude -- saying, "Jesus loves us.  Jesus knows us and is taking care of us."  I had taken her some flu medicine and cough/throat lozenges earlier that morning.  I knew it was a possibility that her stay would get extended, but I didn't dare say a word to her in case it didn't happen.  She was resolved to move into her van and make the best of it.  So you can imagine her joy at getting to stay a few more nights. 

The Kingdom Center has an opening, and she should be able to get in.  She has to have a couple of interviews and get her drivers license.  Praying it comes tomorrow.  She cannot move in with Mike unless they are married.  They are talking of getting married.  Bishop is going to advise that they not and that Mike get a job and be able to offer some sort of security before they marry.  We'll see. 

Kim and I have spoken several times the last couple days.  She is positive, grateful, hopeful, has faith, and is sick.  We'll see what the next few days bring.  :)

And Mike?  He seems to be a part of Kim's picture.  It would take a miracle for him to do a 180!  But I believe in miracles.  Time will tell . . .

Ahhhhhh!

KIM     CANNOT    GET     IT     TOGETHER.

Kim had to move out of the Belisle's place - regulations at their housing community.  It was awfully stressful for all of them when they were together anyway.  But the Belisles have been more than generous with Kim.  The bishop decided, after much discussion with many, to put her up in a motel again for a week.  In the meantime she was supposed to be getting all her ID stuff together which she must have to get into the Kingdom Center.  She still doesn't have everything she needs. There are many details I don't think I should post, but suffice it to say, she is still in quite a mess.

Then Mike got out of jail.  Not good.  Now he is back in the picture, which I totally do not understand.  She still has feelings for him.  She makes all kinds of excuses for him and insists that he is very sorry for what he put her through and that he is now going to be there for her.  Why do I have a hard time believing this? 

This morning I get a call from her.  She's at the ER with her baby, who was sick all night.  She finds out Audrina has the flu virus that is an epidemic here.  The doctor said they will all get it.  Mike has it.  Ashlynn doesn't feel well.  They are to check out of the motel by 11 a.m.  They have no money, no gas in the car, no food.  Now let me say, bishop and the ward has been most generous with her.  I seem to get a call when she is desperate.  She says she hates to ask, but could we put her up for one night in the motel.  She knows I'm a softy. 

The bishop, on finding that the kids are sick, relented and will pay for two more nights at the motel.  But Mike is not to stay. I was to have her look me in the eye and tell me Mike wouldn't stay there.  Kim will not kick him out onto the streets "where he has no where to go."  (His parents kicked him out of their home when he made contact with Kim after he was released.)  Well, I had already paid for her room for two nights - we are to get reimbursed by the church, but I'm okay if that doesn't happen.  I also filled her tank with gas. 

Mike supposedly has been given some ultimatums from his parole officer.  The officer also is trying to help -- got him a food card and is supposedly going to get him into a trade school to learn welding and help him get a job.  Kim and Mike are talking of getting married.  (I'm wondering if they think the church will continue to give them stuff if they are married.)

I think she has been very manipulative with all of us.  She can tell quite a story, and the details just don't quite fit together.  I'm disappointed that she cannot be honest and forthright.  Part of it comes from years of living with a very abusive husband, who, on at least two occasions beat her to a pulp and put her in intensive care.  I know she wants to have a good and happy life. 

I feel like the Book of Mormon prophets -- I have not included a hundredth of what all has taken place.  Plus, it's so hard to know what to believe any more. 

In spite of it all, I can't help myself - I love this girl and her kids!  Heaven help her!  Because after two more days, then what? 

Sunday Dinner

We enjoyed the company of The Blues at our place for Sunday dinner.  Next time, they said they would have us for dinner at their place in Clearfield :)

Pineapple cashew curry, rice, sauted beans, salad and rolls (homemade, I might add :)

Ventura Elders

Here are some of our awesome elders serving in Ventura:

Elders Crapo, Wenz, Alvarez, and Tauatavalu

They went on exchanges Saturday, and we had the pleasure of taking Elder Crapo and Elder Alvarez to dinner that evening.  It was fun!  Elder Crapo goes home next transfer, and Elder Alvarez just arrived last transfer :)  We snapped this picture when we took something to the Wenz/Alvarez apartment, then did a quick inspection.

How Great Thou Art

On Saturday, January 19, Shawntele was baptized!  She was soooo happy.  After her baptism, as we waited for her to change, we listened to a few testimonies of those who were there.  Suddenly, we hear this muffled, angelic music, as Shawntele was singing "How Great Thou Art" in the dressing room.  People looked at each other and smiled.  It was the sweetest thing!  She was floating on air and just radiant. We are so happy for her. 

Today, she received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  She has been so excited for this.  Congratulations, Shawntele!  We love you!

(Hoping to acquire a picture from one of the missionaries, as I forgot to take my camera. Dang!)

Elder Rapier, Elder Wismer, Shawntelle's mother, and Elder Cary on the right.

Finally got picture!  Yay!  It was so cool, because Elder Wismer first taught Shawntelle; then it turned out he was back in the area when she was ready to be baptised and was able to perform the baptism.  Both Elder Wismer and Shawntelle were so excited :)

Transfer Week

Transfer weeks are CrAzY busy!  But good!

Monday we got 16 wonderful new missionaries!  This is the largest group our mission has received since we arrived. 

Back:  Elders Hall, Savea, Kleinman, Crandell, Alvarez, Hosteen, Watts, Daines, and Eggleston

Front: Elders Wallace, Crapo, Smith, Sebaske, Larson, Rodriguez, and Sister Porter

Tuesday was orientation meeting and transfer meeting at the Ventura Stake Center; then dinner and testimony meeting at the Mission Home with the departing missionaries (8 this time).   This is always a long day, but a very good one :)

Wednesday those 8 great missionaries returned home, including our AP Elder Van Tassell and two of our zone leaders. 

Elder Van Tassell

I will miss his cheerful countenance and his whistling, humming, and singing in the office

He has a golden voice

 

Elder Evans and Elder Baldwin

Companions for the last six weeks

They shot for and achieved the "Standard of Excellence"

with baptisms occurring Monday.

 

Elder Thomas (ZL) and Elder Murray

Elder Murray's parents are serving a mission in the Philippines.  His sister's family faithfully sent him mail every couple of weeks, several letters at a time.  The office staff enjoyed seeing how his letters were addressed; i.e., Elder "Gobbler" Murray, Elder "Snowman" Murray - whatever their "theme" was for that week of letter writing.  One of his last ones was to Elder "we're going to work your tail off soon" Murray.  Great!

 

 

Elder Monk (ZL) and Elder Ferlo

 

Elder Lewis

 

Elder Van Tassell with Elder Cary

Elder Cary is replacing Elder Van Tassell as AP

They were traveling trainers together and are great friends

 

Our dear friends, Elder George and Sister Marva Blue

They will be leaving on February 7th

Love them!

 

The remainder of transfer week is just busy getting letters sent out, rosters updated and distributed, and so on and so forth :)

Apartment Inspections

Last Saturday, January 5, Elder Mecham and I took Sister Sorenson to the airport in Santa Barbara.  She is returning home with some medical issues and hopes to be able to return to the mission in a few months.  Since we've been out, only one missionary has made it back after returning home.  We hope she will be another.

While in Santa Barbara, we decided to conduct some apartment inspections.  Elder Mecham took extensive pictures of each of the apartments we visited, and has now efficiently removed all those pictures from our camera.  Usually I am appreciative of that, but I wish I had pics of the apartment affectionately dubbed "The Hobbit Hole."  I loved that little place, up on the hillside, surrounded by all kinds of flora -- and such a cute little apartment.  Well, after transfers, this area was white washed -- remove two not-so-tidy elders, insert two very tidy sisters!  Now we need to go back and see the difference, as the sisters told us they really spiffed it up!  This is Sister Romero's last transfer -- she is done in six weeks.  Love her!  She is training our new sister (the one and only sister to arrive this time), Sister Porter.  And they reside at the hobbit hole :)

Maybe I can insert some pictures for this post later.

I DO have these pictures from another apartment in Santa Barbara.  The red plants you see are coleus!  Holy cow!  Can you believe the size of those?  Never in Idaho!  I HAD to have pictures!

YES !!!

The service for Kim and Ashlynn was very nice. 

Satan has been working overtime to prevent this from occurring.  The latest:
Thursday I got a call from Kim -- again sobbing.  I could not understand what she was saying, so drove up to Ventura and sat in her van with her and mostly just listened as she explained her current situation.  She is trying to go forward in faith -- she just is having a hard time understanding that as she is doing right things why bad things keep happening to her.  Wednesday Kim lost her wallet. Her IDs and her money. Gone. I am praying for a miracle that it will turn up somewhere. Her situation is so complicated and unbelievable that I just am not going to try to write it all down.  --  She lost her cool at the Belisle's, packed up her kids, and left.  She was repentant of the things she said and called and apologized; however, she did not want to return.  She and her three kids spent a cold Thursday night in her van in the church parking lot.  This is not the first time they have spent the night in this fashion. 

Have I explained about the Belisles?  Both Chase and April are recovering (or I would say recovered, if you ever get to that point) drug addicts.  They have progressed a long, long way.  They had four (I think) children taken from them; three were adopted out and one is in a foster home (I think).  Since their recovery, they had another little girl, Peiper.  Peiper has problems.  She is out of control.  She screams and throws tantrums and pretty much gets her way.  She is disruptive.  I do not know exactly her problems nor how Chase and April deal with her, but I know Peiper has therapy and they have a behavior counselor working with them.

I'm not sure if it was Wednesday or Thursday that Peiper was abusive first to Kim, and then to Ashlynn.  When she slapped Ashlynn in the face, that's when Kim lost it and blew up and left. 

Friday Kim and family were back at the Belisles.  Chase and April are understanding and forgiving, and Kim humbly made amends.  It is a tough situation for everyone.  I certainly could not live there, and I told Kim Thursday when I spoke with her that she had lasted longer there than I could have.  And I'm not trying to be mean about the Belisles.  It's just really tough!  And Kim really has no options.  She can stay with them till Monday, then she does not know what she will do.  She says things are in order to get into the Kingdom Center, but with her wallet gone, that has created problems there too. 

At the baptism, Peiper was horrible!  She was right up front, sitting by Ashlynn (I did not think that was a good idea at all!)  As I was giving a talk about baptism, Peiper was acting up terribly.  It was SO distracting, and I was trying super hard to have the Holy Ghost help me, and I had prayed for it to be present for everyone, especially Kim and Ashlynn.  It was interesting, to say the least. 

Elder Mecham gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.  At that point, I had Audrina by the back door of the room, but for the most part she was really good.  A 14-month-old behaving so much better than an almost-6-year-old!

After Kim's baptism, Elder Mecham and I picked up Shawntele, who was without transportation, and took her to the Mission Office where she had her baptismal interview with President Castro. She will be baptized next Saturday, the 19th.  She is so excited!  And so are we!

Baptisms (Hurray)

Kim and Ashlyn - scheduled for Friday, January 11. She was interviewed by President Castro, and it is a go!  We are so excited for her and Ashlyn.  Is Kim's life stable now?  No.  Things change so frequently with her that I have not been able to keep things up to date on her in this blog.  Her family is still with the Belisles, and that can't continue for long as it is against the rules at that housing complex.  Faith that something good will open up for her!

For the first time, she arrived at church yesterday in a nice dress and heels.  She seems pleased.  She seems genuine in her desires -- always has.  We love Kim and her little family.

Shawntele is being interviewed this week by President as well.  If all goes well, she may be baptized Friday too.  She is into her third week of no smoking!  She rocks!  We love Shawntele too!

Woohoo for these ladies!  Yay for the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Deep gratitude for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that changes lives forever! 

Record Lows and Highs (so far)

This morning it was 39 degrees (F) when I went for my walk.  Brrrrr!  A might chilly for the homeless who opt to spend their winters in this area because of the mild weather.  I could actually see my breath this morning.

Today we have 16 new missionaries arriving from the MTC - 15 elders and one lone sister.  That's the most since our arrival last April.  Pre-MTC, we have a record number of sisters - they will come in March and May! 

Yesterday our Gospel Essentials class was the fullest we've ever seen -- had to bring in chairs from another room.  In attendance, there were 8 people who had been members their entire lives -- 6 missionaries (including us), 1 visitor, and 1 ward member; 5 investigators; 14 converts.  Amazing!  It was such a neat class.  We went around the room and everyone introduced themselves -- many shedding tears as they told of their conversions and how much the gospel meant to them.  Experiences like this we never had in Idaho.  They are choice and tender.

Allen Family Visit - FUN

We were so thrilled to have Mauri, Gary, Kyri, Graysen, and Tanzi come visit us after Christmas.  Even though nearly all of us had colds, we had a great time together.  The following pictures pretty much tell the story :)   Thanks, Allens, for brightening our holidays!

At the Mission Office

At the tree in our church parking lot

Can you even see the kids?  HUGE, awesome tree :)

At the cross - wonderful viewpoint of Ventura.

It was cold and windy

The channels - behind Yolanda's Restaurant

(where we had lunch)

Fun at the apartment

Cute hairdo, Tanzi

Flying kites at the beach!  Kyri had been so sick all morning; we were happy she was feeling better and had some fun at the beach.

Big sand bank by the shore.

Note Tanzi's dry clothes

Note Tanzi's wet clothes.

A wave caught her off guard, and she sat down in the cold water

Sadly, after this picture, I dropped my camera in the sand.  It has not worked since :(  As Elder Mecham used it to take pictures of the missionaries' apartments, we replaced it yesterday (New Year's Day - when we inspected seven apartments), but I'm planning to take the camera in to a shop to see if it can be fixed for a reasonable price.