Mormon Helping Hands at Foster Park

Saturday our stake (Ventura) assisted with a huge service project at Foster Park, a community park between Ventura and Ojai.  Lots of people turned out to assist with this, including all the missionaries from the Ventura Zone (except Elder Mecham and Elder Truman, who both spent that morning in the Mission Office).  Sister Truman and I were there for a couple of hours and we both agreed it felt good to 1) be outside, 2) do some service, and 3) wear the Mormon Helping Hands vests :) 

Picnic tables were scraped, sanded, swept off, and painted.  Dead branches were sawed off, piled up, and (I think) hauled off.  Thick layers of leaves and twigs and some garbage were raked up and bagged - bags and bags and bags of them.  It was fun to see so many there with their "helping hands."  Hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and watermelon were served for lunch, but we didn't stay for that. 

Sister missionaries headed to our assigned areas

Sister missionaries giving this table "the works"

Sister Vance with Vanessa, an investigator

Randy and I drove up Sunday to take a look, but the park was closed and we couldn't drive in.  Even from the road, it certainly looked spiffy and nice.  We'll have to bike up there one of these first Saturday's and have a closer look. 

After I dropped Sister Truman off to join her husband, who was in his car just leaving the office parking lot, I waited a few minutes for Randy, who had been off doing some business in the mission truck. The parking lot was being used for another church/community project -- that of gathering food for Food Share.  There were huge bins of food in the parking lot.  A couple of  men wearing Mormon Helping Hands vests were there sorting it.  I chatted with them while I waited for Randy. 

Randy arrived, we got in the car to leave, and a large SUV-type vehicle pulled into the parking lot behind us.  I glanced over at it just in time to see it slam into one of the cement blocks which holds the light poles in the parking lot.  Yikes!  The car was driven by the wife of one of the men helping with the Food Share project.  She had glanced at him and not seen the pole, so although she wasn't going fast, there was no braking done, and BOOM!  :(  There were six or seven kids in the car -- all shook up, but all okay.  The car incurred quite a lot of damage - several thousand dollars worth undoubtedly.  Hopefully they have good insurance!  As Randy commented, cars can be fixed - people can't. 

Drama and Trauma in Bakersfield

Elder Mecham is really putting in long days.  Thursday he and Elder Truman left for Bakersfield at 6 a.m.  They returned mid-afternoon.  When 5 o'clock arrived, I left the office and went back to our apartment for a while.  Elder Mecham stayed on at the office.  I brought him home around 8:30 after my keyboard class.  He is swamped, but willingly does what he needs to. 

We can handle busy.  We are just grateful that we don't have near the drama that Elder and Sister Harmer, the couple in Bakersfield, has had.  They had their front door kicked in, their place ransacked and several items stolen.  Another time their garage was broken into AND their car, with everything stolen out of the glove box (the police said to steal their identity - huge hassle for them).  They are Member and Leadership Support missionaries and make visits to some very poor people in horrible circumstances, including uncleanliness and bugs.  They said they often get back to their apartment and immediately shower and wash their clothing.  Well, they managed to bring bed bugs home with them.  They discovered them when Sister Harmer had strange bites all over.  Now they are going to have to just get rid of their box springs and mattresses as they cannot get rid of the bedbugs.  Ughhhh!  But I have never heard them complain - only express sadness at the unfortunate living conditions of the people they visit.  Even when they sent the email about the bedbugs, they were not complaining, just asking what they should do about new mattresses since they are returning from their mission to their home in Meridian in June.  I think they are going to buy some "blow up" mattresses, which they can take home with them when they leave.

I've posted these before, but here are some pictures of Elder Dean and

Sister Jo-Ann Harmer.  Great couple!

P-Day Stroll

We had planned to go for a bike ride Saturday afternoon, but it was quite windy (and we are fair-weather bikers :), so we went for a walk over at the channels. It is such a pleasant place for a stroll.

 

People just have boats docked right in their backyards

I had no idea these bushes bloomed.  They were all along our walk and are so bright and beautiful!

We were surprised when this riverboat passed us.  We've never seen one in the channels before. 

Thursday Night Class

I love my keyboard class!.  Each one is very sweet. 

Jocelynn Galinda, Jennifer Labinpuno, Linda Dunham

In our small, but functional, classroom

This low "child's" table works perfectly for playing the keyboard

Jocelynn is maturing and becoming a lovely young lady.  Her family has procured an organ which has two short keyboards.  So now at home she can practice the organ, which has a similar touch to the electronic keyboard.  Her progress is slow, but she is working at it more consistently now, and she is making progress.  She could progress more quickly if she could be worked with one-on-one for a longer period of time than I can do in a one-hour class

Jennifer Labinpuno is a woman of great faith.  Her son, Vince, is winding up his mission in the Philippines.  He was an assistant to the president for quite some time, but is now teaching - and loves it!  Jen is so excited for him to return.  Jen's husband is not a member and has not supported his son as a missionary - will not even read his emails or letters.  Sad.  I have never met him, but I love Jen.  She works full time and is a very structured - and busy - lady.  She loves doing family history and temple work and is a pioneer in this endeavor in her family.  She was excited a couple weeks ago to report that she had driven to the temple in Los Angeles for the first time.  She said she took a wrong exit twice, but finally made it.  That can be a scary drive! 

Linda Dunham's children are grown, and she and her husband do a lot to serve others.  Recently, they helped her mother to completely renovate her house.  This began when they discovered some pipes had been leaking and so new flooring had to be installed.  One thing led to another, and they did quite the remodel job.   Sister Dunham is the Primary president in her ward and wants to be able to substitute at the piano if there is a need.  She is a consistent practicer :)

We have a recital set for May 16, at which time I am bowing out and Sister Dunham is taking over.  She has progressed to the point of assisting the two as they continue to practice and improve.

Lull in the Action

Duties in the Mission Office seem to go in waves, and although there are always some things that need to be done, we have a bit of a lull between transfers.  I have worked ahead as much as I can, because May and June are going to be very busy.  Right after transfer week the first full week in May, Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy is coming to do a Mission Tour.  And with the split of the mission, we are involved in some things there.  Elder Mecham has been getting utilities set up for the new mission home and mission office in Bakersfield, as well as lining up apartments for the senior missionaries as well as the assistants to the president.  We will be training the senior couple that will serve in the mission office.  So things will be interesting the next couple of months.

Friday, Elder Mecham and I drove up to the northern part of our mission and did several apartment inspections.  It is always fun to visit the missionaries and see them in "their natural habitat," as Elder Mecham says.  We also stopped to see Elaine Kreamer and we enjoyed lunch and a nice visit with her.  She is moving forward in life without her good husband, Al, who passed away last November - a very tough adjustment.  It was good to see her.

We got back to Ventura just in time to drop off  three bicycles at the storage garage and meet Elder Wenz and Elder Wallace at the Main Street Restaurant for dinner.  They cannot come to our apartment for dinner as it is out of their area, so we sign up  to take them out every once in a while. Then we drove to our other storage garage and unloaded a broken couch, which will go piece-meal to the dump.  Whenever we go visit elders in their natural habitats, we end up hauling off items they don't want or need from their apartments.  This old couch was out on a little balcony of a second story apartment.  It had definitely seen better days.  The easiest way to remove it from their apartment was to drop it over the balcony down to the street below.  Yikes.  What a sight that must have been for anyone observing - but it worked quite well :)

Saturday evening, Sister Truman and I attended a fireside at the Camarillo Stake Center sponsored by BYU ____ .  The guest was Dallyn Vail Bayles, an LDS actor and artist.  SO enjoyable.  He has toured in Phantom and Lew Miserables.  Such a nice voice, and he presented a beautiful fireside.  This is not a very good picture, but it's the only one I got :)  His opening and closing numbers were done with a youth choir from the stake - they had just finished rehearsing when we arrived that evening. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVz8ryx_R8

You might enjoy listening to this song.  It touched our hearts as he sang it at the fireside.  Elder and Sister Truman lost a son to cancer a couple of years ago, so this was especially tender for Sister Truman. 

History in the Making

The California Ventura Mission has been asked to be the "parent" mission for the new Bakersfield Mission - thus, we had a meeting with some of the staff from the San Fernando Mission - the other mission that is being split to form the Bakersfield Mission.  These lovely people traveled to our office Monday to review how we "do" things, so that when we turn files (including missionary, vehicle, apartment files) and board cards over to the new mission, everything will be uniform.  As every mission does things a bit differently, they will have to make some changes in the files they will be sending to Bakersfield.  We all agreed that it is exciting to be involved in assisting with the new mission. 

It will be hard to "lose" one third of our missionaries, though, never to be seen again in our mission.  But we know the hand of the Lord is in all this, and it will all be good :)

Elder Alldredge and Elder Lowry,

Assistants to the President, San Fernando Mission

(our Assistants met with them, but had left by the time we took pictures)

The Trumans, Elder and Sister Jeppson (senior office couple),

President Castro,

Elder Phillips and Elder Slayton (volunteers) - us

President is a gracious host.  We all met together (12 of us) and introduced ourselves and began the morning with a word of prayer.  Two and a half hours later, prior to the departure of the San Fernando staff, we again had prayer. 

Come June, our staff (Ventura) will train the senior couple who will be running the Bakersfield Mission.  We will have them with us for a couple of weeks, one of them being transfer week.  We know it will be a big responsibility to train this couple, but what a huge responsibility for them to be running a new Mission Office! 

Dolphins!

Saturday was foggy and very cool.  We opted to go for a drive, a stretch of which was right by the coast.  I always keep my eye on the ocean.  It fascinates me - plus I've been hoping to catch a glimpse of some dolphins.  Up to this point I'd never seen any.  Well Saturday my wish was fulfilled.  We saw lots of them, and they were very close to shore.  Even Randy, who has seen dolphins several times in his travels, was impressed because they were so close. What a beautiful sight to view them in "the wild!"  We pulled over, got out, and just watched them as they arced out of the water.  What a treat!  (Sorry - no pictures - it was just a spontaneous moment of joy)

The rest of our drive was pretty awesome too - up over the hills on a windy, twisty road in beautiful country.  We eventually drove out of the fog and into the sunshine, then as we returned home, back into the clouds again. 

Spring here is like that.  Cool and cloudy.  But I'm not complaining - it is still lovely.  I've heard Ventura described as paradise, and I think that's got to be a pretty good depiction :)

Apartment Inspections

This morning Elder Mecham and I drove to Newbury Park to do some apartment inspections.  One of them is a little studio apartment behind a member's home - in a very nice, gated area.  The member has donated this apartment entirely -- we pay no rent or utilities for it. Here are some pictures we took today.  It is small but of great quality.  A sweet place!

(taken an earlier date - owner and Elder Truman)

Kitchen today (above)

Owner hung cork board for missionaries.  There is no stove or oven, but

just behind the wall is a toaster oven and hot plate.

Kitchen previously (below) which shows their table and chairs, fireplace and flooring. Better lighting.

Owner bought twin beds just for the missionaries. Door to apartment is just at right of beds.

Sister Tagaloa and Sister Randall

To the right of them is a Murphy bed, which, of course, does not work for missionaries.

So, to the right of the murphy bed is the kitchen.  To the left, the bathroom.

I basically took all the pictures standing in the same spot (except for the bathroom).

This is what is behind this little studio:

Little garden plots

Working fountain

The sisters say they often do their planning sitting out here.  Nice!

Here are elders we saw today:

Elder Crandall and Elder Barnett



Books and Supplies for ZLC

We could barely walk down the hall.

11 zones :)

This included a few UPS and FedEx packages too

Fun-Packed Easter Weekend

Spring break precipitated trips to Seaworld -- and to Oxnard -- for the Andrews and Gardners -- separate family trips (prior to senior graduations) which merged at our place for the weekend. Andrea's family headed our way from Seaworld Thursday afternoon, encountering rush hour traffic around Los Angeles.  They arrived around 7 p.m. with tales of  Seaworld adventures.  We enjoyed dinner together and visiting until they left to spend the night at a hotel.  Erica's family drove all night Thursday from Sunnyside, Washington, and arrived in Oxnard around two o'clock Friday afternoon. Party time!

Friday:
Andrews crew went to Mission Office: met President Castro, the Trumans, and the Assistants.  Randy and I stayed for staff meeting - Andrews "hung out" at our apartment.
Gardners arrived.
Snacked.
Went to Mission Office again.
Gardners met the Trumans.
Had mini-concert at the church.  Fabulous piano by Cole, Kendra, and Morgan. Amazing flute by Miraya.
Went to Toppers Pizza for supper.
Avery, Cole, Miraya, and Karson stayed with us that night.  Don't know what time they went to sleep :D
Saturday:
Amazing tree at Ventura Stake Center (our ward building)
Look-out at the cross (NOT a sunny and clear day :(
Tide-pool national park place
Picnic at Oxnard City Park
BEACH
Watch video highlights of Avery as Daddy Warbucks in "Annie"
Kids had supper at the apartment
Moms and dads and grandparents went to Yolandas for supper
Parting goodbyes to the Andrews
Sunday:
Andrews left hotel at 6 a.m. - arrived at their home in Blackfoot at 9:30 p.m.
Church in Ventura
Pouring rain
Lunch and a movie
Rain stopped and skies cleared - too late to walk the channels
Easter dinner (ham, scalloped potatoes, tossed salad, garlic bread, ice cream)
Lots of visiting
Monday:
Seaworld - here come the Gardners. Hugs and kisses -
Back to "regular" missionary service for us!

Cole and Avery stayed with us.  It was fun to have them here and get to visit with them a bit.  Cole has grown a foot since we last saw him - he really has (as has Karson)!  Cole continues to advance in his piano abilities -- he is amazing! 
Avery is doing the preparatory things to be ready to serve a mission when he turns 18 in August!  It's hard to believe he is that old.  We are so proud of him. 

Both Avery and Miraya will graduate this spring. We will miss being there for those important milestones, and feel badly that we haven't been able to attend plays and recitals and such.  Miraya is enlisted in the Navy and will go to boot camp the end of June.  She will be an asset to them - they are getting a top-notch girl - and will be sorely missed at home!  Our prayers will ever be with those two! 

How grateful we are that these two families were able to come visit for a couple days!  We enjoyed each one of them so much.  Wish I had to time to elaborate about each one.  The pictures show how dang cute they all are :)

We love ALL our family beyond expression!  We so appreciate their support and prayers on our behalf.  We are here so that others can learn of Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for them -- as we strive to ensure that our own family partakes of this plan and can be together forever! 

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