35th & 36th Week—May 7-20, 2012

September 19, 2012--I just discovered I never published this so I am publishing it tonight!  Connie





Us, Shumans, Coopers in front of Graumans Theatre
where the Academy Awards were held for many years in Hollywood
on Hollywood Blvd.





Dale and Connie with Darth Vader and an Imperial Soldier

Dale, Yoda, and Connie

$2,000,000 car on Beverly Blvd.

Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman Home

Dale, Connie, Kent, Leslie, Kay, Wayman at Greystone

Elvis Presley's home--You can still see what people wrote on the brick fence
surrounding the home.  The owner is an Elvis fan and has kept everything like it
was when Elvis lived here.

We ate here on Hollywood Blvd.  They have wonderful hamburgers.  When we
went on our tour we found out it was Elvis Presley's favorite place to eat.
Dale is leaning on the sign in front.

There are only 7 Beverly Hills signs like this one.  We were on Sunset Strip.
Years ago there was a t.v. show--77 Sunset Strip.  It was named Sunset Strip
because of all the strip joints there were.  It has since been cleaned up.  Only
one strip place is left.

Danny Thomas built this home.  His daughter Marlo Thomas was married here.
It is now owned by Julia Roberts.

This is the Julia Roberts home from down below.

Straight ahead is the Hotel from Pretty Woman.

This dress shop was Vivians in Pretty Woman

We ate here at Shellys Cafe for lunch.  Million Dollar Baby was filmed here.

My mother's favorite actress was Julie Garland so
here I am with her.

Connie with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind

35th Week

          This past week we finished inspecting elders’ apartments.  We always leave them with a spiritual thought and a treat.  We have such great, valiant sisters and elders we have worked with.  The only sisters we have worked with were at the visitors’ center and they were awesome.  We fed 8 elders Sunday and we had a great time with lively conversation.  They seem like our family away from home. 

          Our stake president, President Chavez, manages the DI.  We met in one of the conference rooms there Tuesday for lunch with him, President and Sister Baker, and the other Spanish senior missionaries, Elder and Sister Cooper.  It was a productive meeting and we came away rejuvenated.  Sister Cooper had her hip replaced in December.  She had it done here and that has taken a toll on her and him.  It has been a real challenge.  Neither of them spoke Spanish when they arrived and that has also been a challenge for them.

          We are still teaching Jorge Arzu.  The lessons about the Book of Mormon are going well.  He is so worried about his teenage son and daughter; we spend a lot of time discussing his concerns.  We listen and once in a while try to give a suggestion.  Last time, as he was reading the scriptures from the Book of Mormon, he cried and told us how he has tried to be a good father.  Our hearts go out to him.

          The Book of Mormon reading is going well with Sylvia Campos.  Last time she invited her neighbor, Estella, to join with us. The Spirit was strong as we taught them about becoming more Christ like in Alma chapter 38 and Estella said that she would join with us next week for the next lesson. Sylvia says she doesn’t know the church is true but she certainly explained things to her friend like she does.

          We were supposed to go to the temple with Victoria Olazava this last Saturday morning but she got the flu and had to change it to this coming Saturday.  She wanted me to be her escort through the temple for the first time.  I had told her it would probably work best if she asked someone who could speak Spanish better than I can to go with her.  She said, “Oh, we’ll be okay.”  The bishop told her the same thing I did but she said, “Oh, we’ll be okay.”  I asked the sisters in the temple if I was her escort, was there a temple worker that could go with her also.  The temple workers said, “Oh, you’ll be okay.”  I guess we will be “Okay!”

36^th Week

          This week we started teaching Victor Lopez.  He has attended several churches and is still looking.  His parents are devout Catholics but they don’t mind if he goes elsewhere.  We are not sure how old he is—we are guessing early twenties.  He has studied and asks many questions.  He is a great young man.  The elders also started teaching him the lessons.  We meet at Gutierrez’s house—they are active members of the 3^rd ward.  I think he is dating one of their daughters. We are not sure how serious they are. 

          We are still working and progressing with the Arzus, Olazavas, Caberras, Campos, and Selzo Portilla.

           Bishop Estrada in the 6^th ward asked us to check on Mabel Hernandez.  She is quite young—probably early thirties and is very sick.  Her stomach is distended and she can hardly eat anything.  She is in a lot of pain.  Because she has no papers, she has a hard time getting medical help.  She lost her job since she got so sick.  We have been visiting her weekly.  Her house is clean and very neat.  Last week we thought she was beginning to get depressed which is understandable.  We took her soup and some videos to watch last week.  We hope they can figure out what is wrong soon.

          Last Tuesday we went with the Shumans and Coopers on a tour of Hollywood.  We saw many of the stars homes, where they hang out, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Blvd., Rodeo Dr., Mulholland Dr. and the Wax Museum.  Hal, our guide, was really great.  He had a vast knowledge of everything about Hollywood.  He performs magic tricks and invited us to the house of magic mansion and told us he would do a few magic tricks free.  We saw Larry King’s house and later we saw him walking on Beverly Blvd.  He smiled and waved at us.  We met at Graumans Theatre where the first Academy Wards were held.  We looked at all the stars hand prints and foot prints and signatures.  It was a great day.