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| Luciano Mendoza and grandson at 6th ward Christmas Dinner. |
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| Back Row: Elders Cressman, Winterose, Penrod, Filiaga, Maddox, and Depew Front Row: Elders Carver, and Torres Left side: Elder y Hermana Petersen This was Elder Filiaga's last dinner in the mission field. The next time we see him will be in a University of Utah Football Game. He shared his feelings about his mission and bore his testimony with us. Everyone loves him. He was a great missionary. |
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| Elder Winterose, Natalie, Elder Filiaga, Evelin Ramirez, Elder Carver This was Elder Filiaga's last Sunday in the mission field and he baptized these hermanas on Christmas Day. Since the elders couldn't teach them alone, we were involved in all the lessons. This baptism had special meaning to us also. Merry Christmas Week! We tried to take a small gift, small ceramic bells, to everyone we have worked with since we arrived. It was nice. We got to just about everyone. There were a few we missed. Dale tried to pass out a whole packet of pass along cards—and he just about accomplished it. I am a little more timid but I did pass out some. My style is to talk to people and in the course of the conversation offer them the free Christmas video. He will go up to groups of people and give them to everyone that wants one. He is the true missionary. I would have probably spent the rest of my life in the whale if I were Jonah! One evening when we were finished with our appointments we went to a nice mall that had mostly Black people shopping there. There were some Latinos there also. I think we may have been the close to the only Caucasians there. We passed out a lot of cards in about an hour. The people were very polite and happy to get the free video about the birth of Christ. Another day we went to an upscale mall in Beverly Hills. We only gave one video away and that was to a Black lady. Most of the people did not want to be bothered especially when we asked if they would like a free DVD. Dale, could not even get the rest of the sentence completed when they would say no! Monday night a Sister Pacheco invited all the 6th ward elders and us to a nice dinner. She shared how she joined the church and asked all the missionaries to share their testimonies. Her daughter had made and stuffed Christmas socks for all the elders. Dale got one because she thought there would be another elder whose name she did not know. It was a very nice evening. We found out that Maria Perez didn’t have cancer and she was on her way to Mexico for a month visit. Beatriz De La Pena got back Christmas Eve from San Francisco from her surgery. She was out getting groceries when we stopped by. We didn’t get to talk to her. We just visited with her kids. By the time we got back on Christmas Eve, it was getting late so we ate at Sizzler and went home and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Sound of Music” (in between commercials). I made Christmas cookies for the baptism on Christmas. Christmas morning we went to 3rd Ward Sacrament Meeting. The Moran and Jaime Cruz family were there! We had given Hermana Cruz a bell on Friday and invited them to come. We had been by many times but never could get in, the gate was locked and their phone had been disconnected (not unusual). We went to the Baptism of Evelyn Ramirez and her daughter Natalie following the 3rd Ward Sacrament Meeting. Following the 6th Ward Sacrament Meeting we attended the baptisms of 3 young people whose parents were already members. Upon returning home about 2 p.m. we made a sandwich and started calling all our kids on Skype. We were able to visit with all our kids except Ray and Kerena who were trucking on Christmas Day. Ray did call while we were in the 6th Ward baptismal service. Dale went out and talked to him a while. They were in the middle of Nebraska. We talked to Brad and family the day after Christmas. We got to visit with all of our grandkids. That took up the rest of the day. We ate a Roast Beef dinner a little late. About 9:30 Christmas night we started opening a few gifts and we received a call from Elder Torres. He, Elder Penrod, the ward mission leader, Brother Ramirez and two investigators were returning from the Temple Visitors Center and were in a wreck. Someone needed to take the two investigators home (Mother and daughter). Could we come and do it? After grabbing a blanket, water and the GPS we hopped in the car. When we arrived the teenage daughter was very cold so I went to the car with her and tried to warm Alejandra up. She had only been in the United States 4 months and spoke very little English but we got along. She was nervous and afraid. After visiting with the elders and Brother Ramirez, Dale came over to the car to call President Baker. Brother Ramirez did not want to call the police because he was afraid he would be deported because he did not have his “papers”. He was trying to convince the elders that the light was green and not yellow and the wreck was not his fault. Elder Torres was in the front seat of the van and told Dale the light was yellow and he felt Brother Ramirez was at fault. President Baker had told the Elders to be completely honest and not to make any judgments. He asked Dale to stay there until everything was over to make sure the elders were not swayed one way or another. The people they hit were Koreans and they did call the police. (We felt there was enough damage, the police did need to be called.) Brother Ramirez’s car was registered and he did have insurance but he did not have a driver’s license so they impounded his car. He was so scared he was going to be deported. He has a second family of two little boys and a baby girl who is only 2 weeks old. We really do feel sorry for him. We have no idea how this will turn out. We took the investigators home and then went back and took the elders home as President Baker felt it was too late for them to be out on the streets. The next morning Dale got a bike rack from Elder Filianga and got their bikes and took them to Elder Torres & Penrod’s apartment. |
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