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.



32nd & 33rd & 34th Weeks—April 16-May 6, 2012

Diana and Shane Williams Family Visit

Following Church, Sunday, April 29, 2012 we celebrated
Shanelle's 9th birthday.

Starting from front left Sophie, Connie, Ethan, Shanelle, Diana, Shane, Chance, Hallie

Following dinner we hiked around the Observatory to see the sights. 
It was a hazy, smoggy day in Los Angeles and we couldn't see very far.



Monday morning we went to the tide pools near Dana Point.

Hallie
Dale, Connie, Diana, Chance, Ethan
Sophie, Shanelle

Ethan near the tide pools

Diana
Chance, Shane
Shanelle, Ethan
Hallie, Sophie

Back:  Connie
Sophie, Diana
Hallie



Connie's brother calls us Chip'n Dale so we parked in that parking lot.


Sophie driving her mother around Disneyland

Chance driving 

Dale and Connie on Ferris Wheel



Sophie
Hallie, Shanelle



Connie's neice, Rendi, and her baby Bracken.  He started walking
Saturday and his birthday was Sunday.  He was cold but he absolutely
loved the water.

Colson, Heidi, (Connie's niece) and Romney

Shanelle and her alligator she sculpted.

Sophie, Diana, Hallie, Shane, Ethan
Shanelle, Chance
at Dana Beach
Friday, May 4, 2012

          Well here I go again—three weeks have already gone by and we are now 8 months into our mission!  Time goes quickly when you’re busy. 

31st Week (Dale added this from the last Blog Post)

          On the 10^th of April we met with Griselda Pineda and her husband Oscar. He is a member already and she is waiting to get a traffic ticket paid off to be baptized. I’m not sure how much the original ticket was, but she has been paying for several months. So it was more than a couple hundred dollars. She is also due to deliver a baby next week. Seems like we wrote about this before but I can’t remember when so am writing again!

          They have such a cute 2-year old little boy. Their home appears to have only a kitchen, a bedroom (where we sat and talked to them) and a bathroom. There was only a narrow walkway between where we sat and the end of the bed where they sat! The boy would run back and forth between us and the parents kicking a little soccer ball. There is hardly any place for him to run outside without constant supervision, so now we know why the parents let him run back and forth the across the back of the chapel during sacrament meeting. The bottom line is that the traffic ticket will be paid off the end of May, so she will able to be baptized in June.

          On Wednesday evening we witnessed the baptism of Abel Vasquez by his father, Sedonio, who is just beginning to become active again.  We gave them two family home evening lessons on baptism to help them get ready. It was wonderful watching the father baptize his son!

          Saturday we met for second time with Filipe & Mara Estrada family.  We were surprised that they even let us in because the week before we spent an hour and halftalking (mostly listening to him complain about everything that was wrong with the 3^rd ward. I kept telling him that he should not judge and that the church is perfect but none of us is perfect. In the end we told them we loved him and prayed with them. He let us set an appointment for the following Saturday.)  We had a nice talk and left them a copy President Monson’s talk about hidden wedges. Then they came to church Sunday!

32^nd Week

          Monday evening we met with Jose & Silvia Campos. He was recently baptized and is very enthused about being a member! We have talked to them several times at church thinking that she was a member, but at a dinner with them last week we discovered that was not the case.  She agreed to listen to the Jesus- Book of Mormon lessons so we had a good visit with them. We took turns reading a verse in each set of scriptures. Even Connie took a turn and did very well.

          When we read in 2Nephi chapter 31 about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and asked if we should follow his example, Silvia answered that is good for José. I was so surprised that I just laughed and the rest joined in. We went on reading and it all went well, maybe not quite as spiritual as I would have liked it to be.

          Saturday evening Sylvia invited us to a birthday party for Jose, his “21st” (He is 60!) and enjoyed a very good catered meal. He works for an armored car company and has done so for over 30 years. There were several ward members, including the Olazavas, there. It was a good get together.

          We met with Brother & Sister Cabrera on Thursday giving them the next Jesus-Book of Mormon lesson. We were somewhat disappointed with his replies because he seemed to go back to his intellectual way rather than a spiritual one. We hope and pray that he understands spiritually as well as intellectually.

          Thursday evening we met with Jorge, Marisol, and Leslie Arzu.  They told us Jorge (the son) is going to be in Juvenile Detention another 6 months.  He may get out earlier for good behavior.  They seemed satisfied with that.  He could have received a much stiffer sentence.   We are going back to keep teaching the dad about Jesus in the Book of Mormon.  Leslie, their daughter even said she would join him.  That will be great if she does.

          Saturday all three of our appointments fell through and we spent the day driving and trying to make contacts.  We were especially discouraged when the Estradas fell through after coming to church on Sunday.  The Elders told us that they had similar problems-four falling through and spending the day knocking on doors. 

          Sunday made up for the disappointments of Saturday because I was able to stand in the circle when Bishop Estrada confirmed Jaime Olazava.  I was over joyed to be involved with the whole experience.

33^rd Week

          Monday evening we had a senior activity at the Family History Center.  We had a delicious potluck dinner and then the couple who are here teaching institute gave us a Family Home Evening Lesson on the Book of Esther.  They ended the lesson using the scripture from Esther 4:14 “And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  They gave us a bookmark that said, “And who knoweth whether ‘YOU’ art come to the Mission Field for such a time as this?”  We are so blessed to be here.

          Hermana Caudillo and her three boys have been stalwart members of the 3^rd ward for several years.  Many sets of missionaries have tried to teach their dad and husband but he always says “No.”  He said that he was too busy to listen. Dale responded by asking him if he was too busy to learn about Jesus. He could not to say no to this. So he agreed to listen to the lessons on Jesus in the Book of Mormon.  He only agreed if we would come to dinner and that the lesson was only 30 minutes long.  Dale did a great job and the spirit was there so strong.  You could tell Hno. Caudillo could feel it.  He said he would tell us next Tuesday if we can come back again.  We have been praying for him. 

          Thursday, April 26, the Shumans road with us to zone conference.  President Baker talked about getting investigators.  He said missionaries get one baptism for every 7 people members find for them.  If they tract they get one baptism for every 25 people they visit with.  That is a dramatic difference in their success.  He talked at length about working with members.

          Sister Baker talked about unity with our companions.  In order to have unity we must love God and be obedient to his teachings.  Contention is a reflection of anger and an attitude of pride.  Do not try to elevate yourself above others.  Competition is a worldly attitude.  There should be no rivalry.  God has room for everyone.  We need to forgive one another and not judge. 

34^th Week

May Birthdays

Happy Birthday Dear James—May 3—2 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Colten—May 4—5 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Dallin—May 13—33 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Claire—May 24—4 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Cienna—May 26—12 years old!

(Ruth will only have one child left in primary!)

          Last Sunday was memorable because we had the Williams with us.  Shane and Diana and family came for 3 days at the beach and 3 days at Disneyland.  They went to church with us Sunday and they were the hit at Sacrament meeting.  Two Priests and two Laurels reported their three-day mini-mission experiences.  One of the Laurels said it in Spanish and English just for them.  Dale spoke in sacrament meeting about members helping the missionaries.  He did a great job. After sacrament meeting the whole family got many handshakes, hugs, and kisses.  After dinner we walked around the observatory and took in the sights there.  The day was quite hazy (smoggy) so we couldn’t see very far. 

          Monday morning we drove to their condo at Dana Point.  We went to the many, many tidepools there.  We didn’t find a starfish but we did see two sea hares which are quite rare.  We spent the entire morning there.  In the afternoon we went to the beach.  The kids were fun to watch on their Boogie Boards.  It was cold enough they wore wet suits.  They made sculptures and swam and run and played.  That evening Shane barbequed chicken and we watched a video from Ethan’s Eagle Scout Award which we missed because we were here.

          Wednesday we met them at Disneyland.  That day we went to the California Adventure Park.  Our favorite ride that day was the Sky Glider Ride.  The whole family loved it.  We went several times.  You felt like you were gliding over many different vistas—the ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, Yosemite, Palm Springs, Disneyland, etc.  It was great especially the end when you flew right through the fireworks.  That night we watched World of Color, a spectacular water show.  It started out similar to the Belliago in Las Vegas but was much, much more.  Several of the Disney characters were pictured in the water and mist.  It ended with fire and water. 

          Friday we went to the beach again.  Shane’s brother, Kelly, and his family met us there.  Connie’s nieces, Heidi and Rendi and their boys met us there also.  It was just a fun relaxing day at the beach.  All too soon the day ended and the Williams left Saturday for St George and then on to Idaho.  It was so good to see family again.

          On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday we had several appointments and we inspected some of the elder’s apartments.  It was a busy, but very enjoyable week.



28th, 29th, 30th, & 31st Weeks—March 19-April 15, 2012

Jaime Olazava's Baptism

Dale, Jaime, Nancy Victoria, Elder Kuo, Elder Moore,
Michael, Kevin Vasquez

Dale, Jaime, Nancy, Victoria, Michael, Kevin Vasquez

Dale, Jaime, Victoria

 

Ana Tejada, Reyna Portillo, Sylvia Campos, Connie, Victoria

Two elders going to Mexico, Elder Moore, Elder Kuo (who was baptized two years ago)

Victoria and Jaime Olozava at home

The Olazvas, Jose Campos, Jose Tejada, and Dale

Watts Towers

Dale by a musical instrument display in the museum at Watts Towers.

Many of you will remember the Watts Riots that took place in the late 60's.
  This is where these Towers are located.
They are steel that is covered with mortar and various materials such as
tiles, glass, sea shells, etc.

They were built by one man, Simon Rodia, an immigrant from Italy.
He built this structure with simple, rudimentary tools.

He had not scaffolding--just a window washer's belt and buckle.
It took him 34 years to build this structure single handedly.

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

Happy Birthday Dear Jacob—April 14—14 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Trevan—April 17—10 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Mary—April 25—37 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Lane—April 26—13 years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Lori—April 27—40+ years old!

Happy Birthday Dear Shanelle—April 27—9 years old!

Missionary Work

                    Where does time go?  It has been four weeks since we posted our missionary journal blog.  About 2 months ago our mission received many elders from the MTC who were waiting for their visas to go to Mexico.  They added a great spirit to our missionary activities.   Finally their visas came through.  President Baker asked us to take them to the Mexican Consulate to get their visas.  We drove the mission van and the Shumans drove their car to take them to the consulate and then back to the temple apts. so the elders could get ready to leave early the next morning. 

          This past week we also inspected elders’ apts.  This takes 3 mornings which cuts into our exercise and study time.  That made last week extremely busy but it was a good week.

          Jaime Olazava had his last lesson.  He will have his baptism interview Tuesday night and will be baptized next Sunday. That will be especially nice because it will be Easter.  He is looking forward to serving in the church.  We have admired how he has been sure of each concept as he progressed.  He has humility and integrity.  He doesn’t do anything unless he is sure that’s what he should do.  We have a great love and admiration for him.  This is a blessing to his family.

          We met Celia Lopez, a single mother, and her three sweet children, Suzy, Javier, and Samantha.  When we met her the second time we went over the pamphlet on how to have a happy family.  She is doing all those things and wanted a Family Home Evening Manuel.  She has to work Sundays so they don’t come to church but she is doing great things in her home.  We really admire her.  We thought of her when Elder Cornish spoke about single parents in conference yesterday.

          Our hearts still go out to the Arzu familia and we pray daily for them.  The dad has aged rapidly since all the trouble with his son has surfaced.  They tell us how heart breaking it is to see their son in Juvenile Detention and see him cry.  It just tears at their heartstrings to leave him after their visit with him each weekend.  He goes back before the judge this Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.  We hope and pray that Jorge (the son) will be released to go home this week.  Jorge (the father) has been studying the Bible, the Book of Mormon, any copy of the Liahona he can find.  He is even studying Preach My Gospel.  (His wife, Roxana, is a ward missionary so he has it in the home.)  He has asked the Lord ‘s forgiveness for any wrongs he has done in his life.  He is a very devoted husband and father and a very humble man.  He even talks now about “when” he is baptized and not “if” he is baptized.

          Andres Cabreras is still meeting with us and he is trying to study the Book of Mormon like a college text without the spirit or faith in the Lord. So we decided to prepare a lesson on recognizing the Spirit.  We decided to do it in English since he speaks English very well. That way we can add Connie’s spirit more in the lesson.  We spent a lot of time reviewing the appropriate scriptures and putting a lesson together, then the day the lesson was scheduled Hermana Cabrera called and said that she has an appointment for an MRI and he was going to take her. DARN! Oh well, guess that we will have to give it to him next week.

          More and more there is proof about the validity of the Book of Mormon coming forth intellectually but you also need the spirit to testify.  I quote Tad Callister from the last conference:  He said his great-great-grandfather declared, “That book was either written by God or the devil, and I am going to find out who wrote it.”  He read it through twice in the next 10 days and then declared, “The devil could not have written it—it must be from God.”  Elder Callister continues, “That is the genius of the Book of Mormon—there is no middle ground.  It is either the word of God as professed, or it is a total fraud.  This book does not merely claim to be a moral treatise or theological commentary or collection of insightful writings.  It claims to be the word of god—every sentence, every verse, every page.”  I could quote his entire talk but not here.  He ends his talk with his solemn testimony that is it true. As we have read The Book of Mormon looking for the doctrine as our mission president requested and as we have studied Christ’s teachings with Jaime Olazava we testify that the Book of Mormon is true. 

          We have enjoyed listening to all the conference proceedings the last two days.  Last night following the General Priesthood Meeting we and the Shumans drove to the Staples Center and watched the Jazz play the Clippers.  The Jazz lost.  They were behind except for the first few minutes of the game.  Kind of what we expected but we were hoping for a better on the part of the JAZZ. Dale and Elder Shuman were still in their suits and when we were going in everyone thought we were VIPS.  It has quite humorous! We were hoping someone would escort us to our suite but it didn’t happen.

          Sunday after conference we had an appointment with a young woman, Alejandra, who was baptized a few years ago.   We asked to meet with her mom and they made two appointments with us and then weren’t available.  We would much rather they say no than make the appointment and then not be there.  I guess that is part of missionary work.   Since we were already out we went to a few families we have been trying to locate.  We found two families home and made appointments for next week.  We’ll see what happens.

          This past week President Baker asked us to pick up Elder and Sister Raymond from Ammon, Idaho at the airport, escort them to the Argentine Consulate to pick up their visas and then take them back to the airport.  It ended up that they couldn’t get their visas till the next day.  We took them back to the airport to get their luggage and it had gone on to Dallas.  President Baker made arrangements for them to stay at the temple apartments and we ended up taking them back to the airport the day after they picked up their visas. 

(Letter written by Connie this past week)

                                                                                                    April 17, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

          Today is our grandson Trevan’s birthday and Dale’s brother, Walt’s, birthday.  Happy Birthday!  Since I haven’t posted in the blog for a month now, I decided to write a letter.  Dale will read it and add what he would like. I hope to post the blog today with pictures so you may want to see the pictures.  I will be putting this letter in the blog also. 

          I am going to concentrate on the positive experiences of the past few weeks. The district leader asked us to meet with Andres Cabrerras.  His member wife feeds the elders once a week so he has been through several sets of missionairies.  We asked him if we could read with him in the Book of Mormon about Jesus.  Dale found a list of all the scriptures in the Book of Mormon that mention Jesus or Jesus Christ.  We read and study the scriptures around that scripture.  When we are through the Book of Mormon they have the “meat” of the Book of Mormon and the gospel, they are familiar with the books and how to find a particular scripture, and they have the learned the Doctrine of Christ quite well.  He has been doing quite well.  Last week we taught him about personal revelation and how to recognize it.  Since he speaks English quite well, we taught it in English and taught together.  The lesson went very well and he is accepting the doctrine very well.  It was especially great to have Connie participating in the lesson and sharing her testimony.

          We are still meeting with Jorge Arzu.  His wife and two children were recently baptized but he wasn’t ready.  Two months ago his son got involved in a gang fight at school and he ended up in Juvenile Detention.  He will be sentenced this Wednesday so we are hoping for whatever will be best for his son.

                    Now, for the highlight of our mission thus far.  We have been meeting with Jaime Olazava for the past 4 ½ months.  Sunday he was baptized and he asked Dale to baptize him.  It was such a joyful day for Jaime, his family, and Dale and me.  When we started meeting with Jaime, he and his wife were separated.  As we progressed through the Book of Mormon-Jesus scriptures, Jaime gained a testimony precept upon precept.  Finally he was saying when I am baptized instead of if I am baptized.  He wants so much to be a missionary.  Yesterday there was such a good feeling between Jaime and Victoria, it was wonderful.  Their children were so happy.  It was just a great day. There is no better feeling than to help someone accept the gospel in his life and make the decision to be baptized. How thankful we are for having the privilege to teach and know this great man and his family.

          We testify that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are true and they contain the fullness of the Gospel.  Christ died and was resurrected for all of us.  If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet and we are led by a prophet today.

                                                            We love each one of you!

                                                            Mom/Dad, Connie/Dale,

                                                            Grandma/Grandpa,

                                                            Aunt Connie/Uncle Dale