We had a good week. As the week progressed, I noticed that Chase Bethers was smiling a little more and that he seemed to be sleeping and eating better. Larry took him out to Chick Fil A and he ate a big sandwich with fries. That made me feel better. Chase invited us to teach a family named Chavez with two cute girls (ages 5 and 10), and we have really enjoyed getting to know this family. Both of the parents work in the strawberry fields, and they gave us some of the most beautiful strawberries that they picked. We were so grateful. They are getting married on Feb. 11, and we are going to try to make it special with a cake and punch.
Monday, January 30, 2023
Week 15: Camarillo, CA
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Weeks 13 and 14: Camarillo, CA
California has been getting these atmospheric rivers that dump inches of rain at a time, and two weeks ago, Ventura County, where we live, got hammered with rain. Every six weeks, we have transfer week, where Elder Weatherford and I help transport missionaries to airports or to new assignments within the mission. Well, our transfer week happened on the same days as the atmospheric river. First, the Santa Barbara airport where we usually receive our missionaries was closed by the storm. So the 14 missionaries who were flying down from the Provo MTC were stranded in Phoenix and they had to spend the night there. Our missionary in Ojai, who was supposed to fly to Africa because his visa was approved, had to drive to Bakersfield and back because the road was washed away. There were so many stories like this. Our job was to do emergency airport runs, have missionaries stay in our spare bedroom until we could get them to their assignment, and to pick up groups with the big mission van. We were exhausted by the time Wednesday was finished. But we did it!
Sunday, January 22, 2023
Fourth 3-week Update for President Carter
Hello dear Pres. Carter,
Friday, January 13, 2023
Week 12: Camarillo, Ca
This week has been a little crazy, as you might imagine. The hills around us keep becoming greener and more beautiful by the day with all this rain. There are hundreds of people in the fields planting spring crops, and everything here is muddy. Elder Weatherford and I had the opportunity to meet with a few people who love uplifting messages, sometimes we meet them at the church, and sometimes we chat in the garage because their spouse doesn't really want religion. We are grateful that they like our messages of love. On Thursday, I gave a piano lesson to a sister here. And we found a Catholic charity that is closer to our new duplex that needs volunteers, so we are excited! We will take a fingerprint test in order to protect the people who we will serve, and then we will train, and finally, we will deliver food, talk or read to elderly people, and drive them to doctor appointments. In Camarillo where we live, the population is mostly over age 65, and we enjoy the older people. We have had rain most days here.
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Week 11: Camarillo, CA
Welcome to the year 2023! We are welcoming it here with tons of rain, and we feel really blessed. We have seen two huge eucalyptus trees down on the 101 (Ventura Highway), but otherwise, our area is doing well with the moisture, which we desperately need. Right now, the hills are all a gorgeous green, almost like we live in the jungle.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Third 3-Week Update for President Carter
Hello dear Pres. Carter,