9th & 10th WEEK-NOVEMBER 7-20, 2011

Four o'clock?

Autumn Berries

Bird of Paradise on Temple Grounds

Bird of Paradise--if you look closely, it does look like a bird

Bonsai Plant--Dale bought me this from a man selling them out of his car near the temple.

Bougainvillea are blooming all over.   This one went up almost 2 stories on a house.

Cyclamens growing in flower beds

Can't remember the name of this plant

Geraniums

Iris blooming on Halloween

Snapdragons, Pansies, Allysum

How many of you tree climbing grandkids would be brave enough to climb this tree?

Look at the THORNS on the trunk of the tree--very treacherous!

All of these pictures were taken between Halloween and 2 days before Thanksgiving!  We have enjoyed all the many plants.  Indoor plants in Idaho and Utah grow outside year round here and they are huge.

OUR FIRST ZONE CONFERENCE

          We attended our first Zone Conference this week.  It was absolutely awesome.  We were a little discouraged and this gave us the hope and momentum we needed. 

          Elder Olsen our mission car czar presented a DVD about defensive driving and quoted D&C 62:7 about driving with a thankful heart.

          President Baker discussed the terms of the covenant of the Doctrine of Christ.  Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and the Holy Ghost are our down payments to everything the Lord will give us.  The rest is how we endure to the end.  Our works do not show how much we deserve but how much we desire.  In Moroni 7:48 says we shall see him as he is because we will have become like him.  He challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  Dale is reading it in Spanish and I will read it in English by the end of the year.  My goal is to also read it aloud in Spanish but not by the end of the year. 

          Sister Baker talked about the doctrine of repentance.  The escape route for sin is moral responsibility.  Godly sorrow is a gift of the spirit—the mighty change of heart comes from the Savior. 

          President Baker ended the conference speaking about enduring to the end.  He showed a clip from You Tube about the marathon held in Mexico City (if I remember correctly) in 1984 where one runner ended the race 1 hour behind everyone else because of an injury.  He was asked why he didn’t stop and not finish.  His answer was, “My country didn’t  send me here to start the race, they sent me here to finish the race.”  We were sent here to finish our “race” by enduring to the end.  Some evidences we are enduring well are:

          *We are happy.

          *We are meeting goals we have set and are moving forward.  We are in the race against only ourselves.

          *We are living more like Jesus Christ.

          He ended with a quote from Neal A. Maxwell:  “The submission of God’s will is really the only possession we can really give to our Heavenly Father.”

VISITORS CENTER

          We worked shifts at the Visitors Center this week.  It was interesting and enjoyable.  We met some interesting people. Some people are just plain lonely and come in just to talk.  We feel so sorry for them. It seems everyone should have a support system.  The new center opened just a year ago and it is very beautiful.  They have a Christus there also.  It is not in the same setting as the one in Salt Lake but it is the same size as that one.  They are putting up the Christmas lights  around the temple.  They will be turned on while we are working there.  We are excited to see them.

MISSIONARY WORK

          We met with the Ramirez cousins again.  The elders brought some of them to the visitors center while we were working there.  The young sisters did a terrific job of showing them the around the temple and the center.  Their baptism is still set for December. 

        We also went with another set of elders to visit an inactive couple.  They are from Peru and they fed us the best Latino dinner we have had here.  It was chicken stewed in vegetables with rice.  It smelled so good when we arrived and it was very tasty. 

          Barrio  Tres had a Thanksgiving Dinner this last Friday.  It wasn’t the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner but it was very good also.  They had stewed chicken, rice with vegetables, roll, and for dessert a very tiny piece of pumkin pie with candied yams on the side.  (I ate the yams and Dale ate the pie.)  We had taught Victoria Olasaba and her husband this week.  He is a non member.  We invited them to come to the dinner and they brought their kids and came.  We also invited the Ordonez and they brought their family.  They came to church today for all three hours.  We are hoping things are looking up for them.

                We had met with the Castros this week again.  They are getting their  eight year old son ready for baptism and they are still hoping to go to the temple.  She is having some health problems which I hope will be resolved. 

          We finally met Beatriz de la Pena and her children.  We have been trying since we arrived to meet with her.  We felt so sorry for her and we felt so much despair to know how to help her.  She has  pre cancer on her cervix.  She had laser surgery once and she needs it again.  They won’t give her the surgery unless she comes up with $5000.00.  Her family helped her pay for the first surgery and they don’t have the resources to help her with the second surgery.  She is here from Mexico without papers so if she goes there she will never be able to return.  All of her family is here.  She has no one left there.  Her children (11 yrs, 7 yrs, and 4 yrs) cannot be educated in Mexico because they were born here.  She figures it will take at least a year for her to save up enough money and by that time, she might be facing cancer instead of a pre cancer problem.  We will talk to the bishop about her.  She can’t get Medicaid or any help because she has no papers.  This whole immigration thing is so sad and I don’t know the answer. 

Week 10

We spent 24 hrs. at the Visitors Center this week.  Because we drove during peak hours, it took us 45-60 minutes to get there.  Driving took another 6 hrs. for the week.  We finished checking 3 more elders apartments.  We also had 10 of our own appointments.  Needless to say, we are very tired. 

We did take the young men’s president to meet Matthew Perez.  When we saw Matthew we knew from his countenance something was wrong.  Poor Matthew, the minute we arrived at the door, Grandma started attacking him about his D in English.  He had B’s in all the other subjects.  Sergio, the Young Men’s President, handled everything so well.  He soon had them talking about sports and scouting.  Matthew said he would come to Young Men’s Tuesday.  We will keep our fingers crossed.

Sunday when we arrived at church the counselor in 3^rd Ward bishopric asked me to give the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting.  When I hesitated he told me I could do it in English so I said yes.  During Sacrament meeting I thought about what Craig Manning had told me before we left.  He told me not to be shy about trying to speak Spanish because they would love it if I tried.  I finally started to write down a short, simple prayer, then I had Dale edit my mistakes.  I was so nervous when I went to give it but I did my best.  I know I made some mistakes.  Craig was right, they were surprised and thrilled that I had tried—even the young elders were also. 

8th Week—October 31-November 6, 2011

Our car is in the middle of the gate.

We use a garage door opener to get in.

Gate to our garage

Name of our apartment building

 Front sidewalk of our building

Inner court walkway

Another part of walkway

Lap swimming pool

Connie eating at a Korean Restaurant

 Gary, what is all of this food that we ate and DID NOT eat?
Everything but the meat was cold! 

Dale eating Korean Food.

 Connie at LA Temple

Dale At LA Temple

Pomegranate

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LISA! (November 8)

(We’ll just say Lisa is 40+ this coming week!)

          Monday morning we drove over to the Visitors Center and met with the McDonalds about helping there until Thanksgiving.  We will be working there most of the day on Thanksgiving so that will be a very different Turkey Day for us.  Sizzler around the corner is serving Thanksgiving dinner that day so we have talked about going there when we are finished at the Visitors Center.  We should get back here in our area around 4 p.m.  I always love the leftovers so I may cook a turkey roast a day or two before.  The next few weeks will be very busy with what we usually do and going to the visitors center.  It takes us about 45 minutes to drive there. We don’t know how long it will take during morning rush hour so we will leave about 1 ½ hours early to get there by 8:45 a.m. However we are looking forward to the opportunity to be there and see the workings of a visitors center.

          This week was a bit slower than we are used to but Dale was still recuperating from the flu so maybe it was good it was a bit slower.  We had a couple of cancellations but we had some good experiences also.  When we visited the Perez family, Matthew and Emma was happy to see us.  Matthew has shown interest in Dale’s occupation so Dale took part of his  rocket engineer power point to show him.  He was very interested and would like to go to college someday.  He is quite intelligent.  He goes to a “magnet” school which is a school for the gifted.  He is being lured into a gang and we hope he will resist that.  His mom left him with Grandma and Grandpa when he was 9 months old.  They haven’t seen her since and have raised him thus far.  Grandma has cancer and is undergoing Chemotherapy right now.  She has lost her hair.  She told us if it weren’t for Matthew, she would just let nature take its course.  Grandpa is an old drunk whose brain is “fried.”  He was very drunk at our last visit.  We really feel for Matthew—sometimes it seems like he hasn’t a chance.  We talked to the Bishop (who is hard to understand) and the 1^st counselor (who speaks very good English and Spanish)  about him today.  They have some great scouting leaders in this ward.  I hope he can get involved and get a support system going for him.  We don’t know how much hope there is for Grandma.  She doesn’t look too great right now.  She tries so hard, bless her heart.  They said they would come to church today.  We hope the reason they didn’t come is because it was raining hard and she is so weak.

          When we went to visit Victoria Olasaba she had a friend there who had lost a son who was murdered a year ago on her birthday.  She was having a very hard time.  Dale had printed out a conference talk about trials: “That Your  Burdens May Be Lightened”  before we left the house and so he was able to share that with her.  We felt the Lord had helped us be prepared to meet her.

          Incidentally, Dale is the unsung hero in our mission companionship.  Because of the language barrier he has carried most of the load.  He has done remarkably well. He has helped me a lot and been very patient.  I try to do what I can do to make his load little lighter.  He is a great missionary and he presents our beliefs very well.  This mission has already been a life changing experience for me.

          The Ramirez cousins with all the cute little girls have committed to be baptized in December.  The elders taught them about the Word of Wisdom this week and the first principles and ordinances of the gospel.  They were at church today.  Elder Filiaga is a great missionary.  I told him when he was playing football for the University of Utah I would be rooting for him except when they played BYU.  He is a well-rounded great missionary.

7th WEEK—OCTOBER 24-30, 2011

A VIRTUAL TOUR OF APT. 210

Our fireplace with large family pictures

My $12.00 wall arrangement--I brought the pictures in a folder

and bought frames at the local Dollar Store.



This is where we spend time hoping someone emails us a  letter!!!

(The only son or daughter who has sent us a letter is Brad which we have

loved reading.)

HINT, HINT, HINT



We study and eat and ponder here.

Our Little Kitchen which serves us quite well.

Our Bedroom where we retire very tired every night.

Our Kitty Cat Spa--out our back windows various cats from the neighborhood

congregate to cat nap.  No one can come in except occasionally a gardener so this is

the cats' domain.  Only twice have we heard a cat fight.

The Idaho Trip

          Following our day in Las Vegas we drove up Highway 93 to Twin Falls, Idaho and spent the night with Nate and Christi and their boys.  It was so nice to be there for a short time. It was interesting to see the changes they had made to our house. The sun room is now an office for Nate and Christi. They actually moved both desks into it.  (Hopefully they will move them back before we come home!)  The office is now the boys’ bedroom.  The front bedroom is now a preschool room. Christi has taken such good care of the yard and house. 

          Monday on the drive to Idaho Dale was starting to get the flu.  Tuesday it was in full force with sinus infection and cough so Dale did not go with Connie to see her mom and Lori.  Connie did a little shopping that needed to be done and GOT HER HAIRCUT! 

          Mom was very frail and thin and quite unresponsive.  I was able to visit with the hospice nurse.  I did talk to Mom and told her that if she needed to go to be with dad, it was okay.  I read to her and did her fingernails one last time.  I sat for quite a while and held her hand and rubbed her shoulders.  I hope she doesn’t have to suffer.  I am sure the days are long for her.

          Christi made us a nice meatloaf supper with zucchini and tomatoes from the garden.  It has not frozen yet but the temperatures are getting close to freezing.  It felt really cold to us after being in Los Angeles.  We left at 7 p.m. to drive to Ely for the night. 

          Wednesday Dale was very sick with a sore throat and head congestion.  Connie drove most of the way.  When she got really tired Dale drove for a while.  We were so very happy to be in our little apartment in Los Angeles again. 

          Thursday Dale was still sick so we had to cancel our five appointments.  Friday we went to the temple because he felt a little better and worked on our talks for 6^th Ward Sacrament Meeting Sunday.  By that night he was feeling badly so we had to cancel another appointment.  (He was quite sick because he didn’t even notice he was missing the BYU/TCU football game!)  Saturday he was still sick so we were home working on our talks.

          We just arrived home for church and ate lunch.  Dale is sound asleep on the couch with the Spanish scriptures lying across his chest.  I am so relieved church is over.  Dale did really well with his talk on testimony.  I survived my talk in Spanish.  I was more concerned about saying the words correctly than anything.  Since Dale still doesn’t feel the best I am going to try to get caught up on my letter writing.

          Since we don’t have much to report this week we decided to give you a virtual tour of our apartment which you saw at the beginning of this post.



6TH WEEK-NOVEMBER 17-23, 2011

                                                      The Fiesta continued...

2 Guatemalan Hermana

Hermana dancers from El Salvador

a Cute Hermanita with her mother

An Hermanita in Mexican dress

Guatemalan food

 Must of the food from the different countries was quite good--some better than others. There was a variety of Guatemalan food on these tables. The drink in the orange ooler was a corn based cold drink with a corn syrup sweetner and something else (?). It was good but you could not drink very much because it was very sweet.

 Missionaries



Dale's "chocolate treat"

After trying food from several different countries Dale was ready for some kind of dessert. Just then Connie walked by eating what looked like a tortilla with a chocolate pudding topping. Dale asked Connie if it was good and she said, "Yes." So he quickly went to get one. LOOKS ARE DECEIVING, ESPECIALLY WHEN EATING LATINO FOOD! The topping was pureed black beans!!!!!

UPS AND DOWNS OF MISSIONARY WORK

          Monday we had the 4 elders assigned to Barrio Tecero (3^rd Ward) for dinner—Elders Filianga, Winterrose, Penrod, and Orosco.  We had pork chops, potatoes, gravy, cabbage salad, green beans, hot rolls, and Jen’s hot pumpkin cobbler for dessert.  I made a huge pan of rolls and there wasn’t one left.  They took the leftover dessert home with them.

Sending home leftover food needs to be our tradition.  Since our mission began we have each put on 1 pound a week.  I figured up the other night, if we do this our entire mission by the time we go home we would have each gained 73 pounds—not a pretty sight nor a happy thought!  For one thing, we are not as active—we ride in the car 1/3 of the day, study, and prepare 3-4 hours a day.  Dale rides the stationary bike for 20 to 30 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. Connie does aerobics and walks about 5 times a week. We need to eat less  and exercise more.

          We met with Jose and Maria Guzman (he is the brother that wants to quit drinking beer so they can go to the temple).  Hermano Guzman has started going to the church’s addiction class.  The Guzmans had good news.  They had been approved for a loan on a house.  They were so excited.  Hermana Guzman had asked the bishop to bless their new house Friday night and they invited us to it.  It is an older home—somewhat like the one we had in Burley.  We were so happy that they invited us to share in their happiness.  One of their friends was there was telling something in Spanish and they were all laughing and laughing.  I have no idea what they were laughing about but I had the giggles with them.  Thank heaven smiles, laughing, and hugs are universal.  Dale said he had no idea what they were saying either.  All these different dialects are sometimes hard to understand—especially if they aren’t church words.  Dale told Hermano Guzman that this new house is the time for him to begin his new live without beer and being stronger in the gospel.

          We met with Hermana Ramirez again with the elders.  Connie tended the baby out in the kitchen so that Hermana Ramirez could concentrate on what the missionaries were saying.  The discussion went very well and they set a baptismal date sometime in November.  She has three cute daughters.

          Luis Ambriz called and cancelled our appointment because he was looking for a job.  We were happy that he was actively seeking employment. 

          We met with the Ordonez Familia and read about Christ from the Book of Mormon with them.  Their daughter, Jeny, likes to play games so we all played Yahtzee.  They gave us the Chayote squash again that Dale didn’t care for but he was a good sport and ate it.  It tasted better with quite a bit of salt!

          We met with the Sostres for the first time.  She has a handicapped daughter, Elisa that is pretty much confined to a wheel chair.  She is 16 and loves someone to talk to her.  She gets so excited if you give her attention.  They invited us for dinner next Thursday.  Hermano Sostre has had a hard life and is struggling to change.   He works in a fish market in Santa Monica.  We asked if he ever brought any fish home.  He said, "No, because it is too expensive."  It costs $50.00 a pound!

          We also met with Victoria Olazava for the first time.  She and her husband are having marriage problems.  You could really feel the tension in the home.  We are meeting with them next week again.

          Irma and Alvario Castro invited us for dinner this coming week.  They are a really great family and we look forward to helping them any way we can.

          Saturday we left for Las Vegas for Lisa’s wedding.  It was very nice and the man that performed the ceremony did a great job.  We enjoyed spending Sunday with most of the family.  We are so happy Charles and Colten are now part of our family. 



5th WEEK­-OCTOBER 10-16, 2011

Different Countries

As we travel around our two assigned wards and back and forth to the Los Angeles Temple, we go from a feeling of being in any of many different countries to being in a down town metropolis with skyscrapers and all of the big name stores. We could be in Korea, Bangladesh, El Salvador, México, Guatemala or Beverly Hills within just a few minutes.

The Hair Stylist

It seems everything is an adventure on a mission.  I have tried to find a Salon that uses the same hair dye I have been using.  I couldn’t find anyone so I emailed Brad and Mary.   Brad emailed me back and said according to the internet there are 700 stylists in Los Angeles using those products.  He gave me a website to find them.  I went to the website and put in salons within 10 miles of where we live.  Now I know that doesn’t seem too far away for most of you but many times it takes us 1 hour to go 10 miles so I felt I was being quite generous with the mileage.  Five salons popped up.  We drove to the closest one.  It had gone out of business.  I then got on the phone to see if the rest of the list was still in business.  Something the lady on the line said made me ask how much their haircuts were—THE ANSWER: $250.00!  I was sure I had heard wrong.  I said, “Pardon me; please repeat that again.”  I had heard correctly.  Upon calling the remaining three salons, came the same answer.  I didn’t ask how much for a tint since it is usually more than a cut.  I had visions of coming home at the end of our mission with long white hair!  There are signs all over for $10.00 cuts but one of the sister missionaries warned me about them.  She had found a bargain at $80.00 a cut.  I was about ready to pay for Mary to fly down every 4-6 weeks when I found a little Korean stylist for $25.00.  I made an appointment. 

THE HAIR DO

When I arrived I told her what color I had been using.  She was sure that was not right.  She showed me the color she thought was correct.  I told her it was way too red.  She disagreed so emphatically I gave in thinking she knew her brand.  As I sat in the chair and the minutes ticked away, my hair was getting redder and redder and redder.  I was going OH, NO!  When she came to check it she was horrified.  Pretty soon there were two Korean stylists picking at my hair chattering in Korean.  They talked and talked and talked.  Finally they put another color on.  It was better but not what I am used to.  By that time I had been in the salon over 2 hours.  She then announced, “I cut.”  When she cut it she grabbed some hair on one side and SNIP.  Then very fast she would grab some hair on the other side and SNIP.  She did this very fast for two minutes and then announced, “Done!”  Let’s just say I have had better cuts.

MISSIONARY WORK

          Fairly typical week, we had some cancellations and some great spiritual experiences.  Dale says it seems we can only have one really good experience a day.  We decided if we have one good experience a day for the rest of our mission that would be great. 

Monday we had pupusas from San Salvador with the Ordonez Familia—Gabrielle, Jeny, Gabrielle Jr. and Jeny Jr.  They were delicious.  Brother Ordonez made us something special.  It looked like maybe boiled liver or some chocolate concoction.  I was praying for chocolate.  It ended up being a vegetable—guisquil.  It was boiled in black beans and water so that is where it got its color.  I quite liked it. It tasted like the artichoke heart when you boil or steam artichokes.  I would have liked it better if it had a dip of some kind with it.  Dale wasn’t too fond of it but ate it anyway.  They have to be one of the nicest families we have met.  We were supposed to get together Saturday but they called and cancelled. 

After the dinner we went to Garnicas loaded down with everything for a Family Home Evening.  He came to the door and said they were having a meeting and couldn’t meet with us.  We think they were making some arrangements to get their hyperactive little boy some help. 

We met with Xiomara Ramirez.  She is the 3^rd ward mission leader’s daughter.  She has 3 girls—Karen who is 12, a 4 year old and a baby.  She had her friend, Lucy Gutierrez, there to help her understand English and translate her Spanish to English.  It worked out well, because we talked in English so that Lucy could be more involved.  We had a really good visit with them.  Lucy told us that she was Catholic, but was interested in what we had to say. We told them about how there was a falling away from the church in each of the dispensations after the prophets like Moses and Isaiah  died, This happened after Jesus and the apostles died. Then we gave her a short Joseph Smith story and testimonies of him and President Thomas Monson. She was quite inquisitive and wanted an English copy of the Book or Mormon to read.  We are going with the elders this week to teach them some lessons.

Alejandra Carrillo is a fun, little Mayan lady.  She has lots of spark and enthusiasm.  Most of her children are grown but living with her.  Her youngest son is about 16 yrs. old.  They all work hard.  Her husband, Brian Patrick was there.  We were told by the bishop were separated.   He said he goes to an English speaking ward.  She invited us back if we can catch her.  She works 2 jobs and is going to school.   She said she wanted to come back to church.  We talked to her about attending an English speaking ward since they all speak English fairly well.

We met Emma Perez.  She is battling cancer.  She is raising a grandson, Matthew, whom she has had since he was 9 months old.  He is only in 7^th grade and wants to quit school and be on the streets with a gang.  He was there and he seemed very likable.  We hope he doesn’t make that choice.  We told him we would help him with his homework and that Dale would show him the power point presentation on Rocket Engineering.  He seemed pleased with that.  Her husband is a member but has a drinking problem. 

We met Irma and Alvario Castro.  They have a daughter, Stephanie (13), and a son, Antonio (8).  Irma has had a very hard life but is a survivor.  She is so much fun to talk to.  They want to get Antonio ready for baptism and they want to be sealed in the temple.  She is trying to get her GED.  She works in an assisted living center.  She would eventually like to be an RN and I would bet she accomplishes it.  He works long hours in a print shop and would like to get some kind of training also so that he can become a CAD designer.  We are going to help them with their school assignments.  Dale will be especially good at helping her with math.

We read and discussed the Book of Mormon verses that contain the word Jesus and what these verses teach us about the gospel with Luis Ambriz.  He is devoted and is trying to do what is right.  He said that he had quit his job as restaurant cook so he can come to church on Sunday. He had to work Thursdays through Sundays. His mom is working everyday now in a clothing factory.  Learning to read will have to wait.  We did leave a DVD of the Sunday afternoon session with them

We read the Book of Mormon with Maria Samos.  Her husband was supposed to read with us but he went with some buddies.  We get the feeling he doesn’t treat her very well.

Friday night 3^rd Ward had a Cultural Night that was just fantastic.  These Latin people know how to party and eat.  What a fiesta!  Each group had a display, sang songs, danced, had terrific food samples, and dressed in their native costumes from their birth country.  They did a fantastic job.  Lots of work went into it.  It was supposed to start at 6:30.  They didn’t get going until 8.  I think that is par for Latinos also.  You just love their ways.  They had groups representing Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and the youth did the United States.  Elder Filiaga did a beautiful job of singing the Star Spangled Banner. It was one of the funnest evenings we have spent.  There was a fairly large group representing each country.  You can see we have a fairly well balanced Latino ward.  We took lots of pictures and will show a few below.

 GUATEMALA

HONDURAS

A SISTER FROM HONDURAS WITH A PHOTO OF HER WHEN SHE WAS A YOUNG QUEEN FOR A LOCAL ACTIVITY.

DISPLAY

PERU

GUATEMALAN DANCERS

EL SALVADOR

Brother Yern is quite the person. He is a specialist in Family History and has been called  as a Family History Missionary for the area(?) He has a very gruff loud way of talking and this seemed very out of character to be holding the quiet little Latina girl.

Elder Filianga did a great job of Singing the Star Spangled Banner for the good old USA:

The insert capability seems to have stopped will insert some more photos in the next post.