WEEK 14!!! LOTS OF WORK TO DO!!!

Meagan Martineau	2:07 PM (3 hours ago)

Here we go with a bunch of answers to a bunch of questions: (for whoever else reads this, just ask my mom what the questions were so it makes more sense :) )

1) In the Little Rock branch I was the ONLY one who played piano so I played in sacrament and in Relief Society every week! Here they have someone from the English ward play in sacrament meeting but I still play in Relief Society, and I play at every district meeting and every other zone meeting because not many people play the piano here!!

2) I was outside talking to a lady during the earthquake and I didn't feel anything :( but we visited a less-active that night and she was cleaning glass off her floor because it was so big it knocked her china down!! But we didn't feel anything! :)

3) I am still an all-Spanish all the time missionary. There is no "zebra work" in this mission. "Zebra work" is when you're a Spanish missionary that teaches in English too. We don't do that, thank goodness :) So I only teach in Spanish and there are a LOT of Latinos here!! They're NOT hard to find!! :) It is a little hard to understand some people sometimes though, because there are people from Mexico, Guatemala, Hondurus (however you spell it), Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and other places!! So the Spanish is slightly different from person to person, so it is a little confusing at times, but my Spanish is DEFINITELY improving!! :)

4) I can print them out here. I email at the church here, and in Palm Dale I emailed at the stake center that was right by our apartment complex.

5) I do know Elder Wahlquist!! He is in my district here in La Cresta!!

6) La Cresta is a Spanish ward. It's a small ward, but a ward.

7) Hermana Pincock has been feeling better - not sick in the mornings - but she is "sooooo tired" so after she gets up at 6:30 and says her prayers, she lays on the couch and falls asleep until comp study. We have done comp study twice this week, so that is an improvement, and today she was awake during personal study for the first time! But she didn't study, she just wrote in her last companion's transfer journal. I am not saying this to brag, but I honestly think my Spanish is just as good as hers, and she has been out for 10  months now! But she never does language study and apparently never did with her last companions either... It has been hard, but I just study by myself. In the morning it's fine, but at night when we do my first 12 weeks training study, she never studies and I do it by myself and that's hard. But it's ok. It's getting a little better.

So this week was exciting!! Apparently the California Bakersfield Mission was the most disobedient mission in the world a few years ago, and now it's like the 3rd or 4th most... A bunch of missionaries have been sent home lately for "chronic disobedience, aka wickedness" -President Wilson. And the district leader here in La Cresta was one who got sent home and so the elder that was with him got put in a trio in Lamont, and we were given their area. So we had La Cresta 2, and now we gained La Cresta 4 as well... And the La Cresta 4 area book literally has not been updated in over a year except for a few new investigators that were found and dropped, but they don't have drop notes so we don't know when anyone was dropped, why they were dropped, who the investigators there even are, or anything!!! Basically we're just starting all over, and we're whitewashing, which is hard because we are already whitewashing La Cresta 2!! So basically this is a repeat of what happened last transfer, but slightly worse because in Little Rock we at least had a list of names of people (even though we didn't know who were investigators vs potentials). So it has been a little stressful, but I have been fine, not too stressed or anything. But Hermana Pincock keeps saying that she is SUPER stressed... She acts fine but says that she's stressed to the point of exploding so I am a little hesitant to say or do certain things. That is the only reason why I haven't said anything about studying, because she has a temper. I don't know. She had an interview with President Wilson today because the zone leaders told him that she was stressed and he talked to her about her stress and hopefully she got some good tips to help calm her down :) I don't really know what to do for her, but I can always pray!! :)

I love you so much Mom and Dad!! You are so great!! I cannot thank you enough for everything!! :) You have a letter coming your way!!! I love you so much!! I will try to get pictures next week... Sorry, there's just not much time for pictures!! I will try to be better about that!! I love you and miss you!! Always remember the Lord in everything you do!! I love you!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau

No pictures this week. Boo!!!

WEEK 13!!! New Area. New Companion. New Desk.

Week 13! New Area. New Companion.

Meagan Martineau	12:43 PM (7 hours ago)

I'm just going to try and answer all the questions at the beginning so here we go:

There is only one Hermana Pincock in the mission and she is my companion. (There are only 12 Hermana missionaries in the WHOLE MISSION of like 200 missionaries!!!) She has been out for 9 and a half months and she is great!! She has been REALLY nervous about training me, even though it is just backup training because she has always been with really experienced missionaries that always take the initiative to talk to people, so it has been really hard for her to work with a greenie ;) But I have been trying to be good for her and step out of my comfort zone more than I already am and take the lead in awkward situations because she is still learning in situations like that, so we are learning together :) It is good though, because it is getting us both to talk more when the other doesn't know what to say. It has taken a LOT of faith and trust in the Lord to open my mouth and say something when I have absolutely NO idea where to go from there, but it always ends up working out :) The Lord always keeps His promises, and He promises that if we open our mouths they will be filled, and it is SO TRUE!! Man, He is just great!! Le amo con todo mi corazon!! <3 

Her Spanish is good, it's like in between Hermana White's and my Spanish level. I have improved so much (not to be boastful, simply to state progress) in Spanish and I can say just about everything that my companion can say now, even though it is still rough. The gift of tongue is real!!! Even though there are some people I just CANNOT understand!! :) It'll come though :) My new area is La Cresta 2. Hermana Badger is in Arvin, and it's part of the La Cresta ward, but they formed their own branch down in Arvin, so she goes to church there, but we have correlation together and she is in my district. And La Cresta is a Spanish ward. I am on the east side of Bakersfield. Everyone says how dangerous it is all the time, but we never see anything scary or anything, so I dunno! The Lord is watching out for us, for sure :) It is a lot more Urban than Little Rock (Little Rock was all dirt roads with giant plants growing in the middle of the road) but everyone says it's ghetto...Compared to Tremonton it is a very large city!!! It's pretty nice!! And there are more English people here :( There's a lot of pollution here, but I like it. It is still weird adjusting to everything though! And I only know a few people and all of them I only know because I met them here :) I didn't know anyone before I came here, so basically it's like starting fresh all over again, everything is new again!! The work here seems a lot slower than my last area. In Palmdale/Little Rock we were finding in the low 30's new investigators every week, but this last week we got a lot of "Good jobs!!" for finding only 10 which apparently is a LOT here!! And we have 18 investigators (they left us with 8 to start). We have only met 3 of them so far though because we could catch any home, but 2 of them are pretty serious and getting close to baptism!! One is a 15 year old girl named Lizet who has been taught a lot of the lessons (we still have a few commandments to teach, and then lesson 5) and then she is good to go! She apparently goes to mutual every week but has only been to church once. She didn't come yesterday because her uncle got shot in Mexico and so she stayed home consoling her mom... And the other one is Reina, and I don't really know much about her but she's like in her 40's.

So ya, the work is a LOT different here and it has been kind of hard just because I feel like I'm not doing anything because we don't talk to as many people here. Hermana Pincock doesn't like to go and talk to random people (that's probably why no one finds here). It has also been kind of hard because she doesn't like to be obedient all the time... Today was the first day that we did companionship study because every other day she went back to bed after "exercising" (meaning, she would sit on the floor and "stretch" for 10 minutes, then go to bed). So it has been kind of hard because I have been planning lessons alone and everything. Granted, she hasn't been feeling very well. We get along perfectly fine, though. Today was better because I got the nerve to wake her up and do our studies :) Blessings come from exact obedience!! On the days where I am exactly obedient I am less tired, have more energy and am happier!! The Lord truly does bless us in obedience!!! 

So ya, that was my week. Nothing incredibly exciting happened, or even relatively exciting at all. It has been hard, but it will get better!! I'm keeping my Spirits high!!!

I love you so much!!! Thank you for all that you do for me!!! 

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau 

​My desk.

                                        Please send to Ryan and Nicole for the hearts,

                                        Aunt Kathryn for the figurine on the left

                                        And yes that is the penny you gave me mom :)

​What I do during language study when my companion is sleeping... :)

WEEK 12! 5 Empty Boxes and Saying Goodbye!!!

February 15, 2016 Meagan Martineau	1:24 PM (4 hours ago)

Mom, thank you so much for everything you said!! It helped so much!! I am SOO happy to hear about the family!!! I am crying of joy right now because it sounds like you are all doing so well!! To me, that means everything!!! Tell David I am proud of him and love him, tell Hailey and Rhett HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! and congrats on the calling!!! And tell Ryan and Nicole that I am so happy for them and all the good they are doing!! And for you and Dad, I love you SO much!!!! Thank you so much for everything!!

And to answer your question about the companion thing, it is all ok, and it was never anything serious. Just sometimes I would feel like she wasn't listening to me or really cared too much, but she does. She really is sweet, I just didn't see that because of my pride. And it was just hard because we have SO many investigators that on planning day we spend the ENTIRE 4 hours planning for them and we never even finish planning all the way or have time for companionship inventory because we're only supposed to plan for 4 hours on planning day. So we never did companionship inventory so we never really talked about things like that, but then we did one on a random day and got all our problems worked out, and it's all good!! I'm actually really sad to be leaving her!!! :( We just found outSaturday night what was happening with us during transfers..... Everyone is staying except for the 2 missionaries going home, AND ME!!! I've only been here for one transfer and they're already taking me out of the area!! :( I'm really sad to leave Palmdale/Little Rock area, but it will be ok. I've heard that they area I am going to is awesome, so I have high hopes!!! I am going to be serving in La Cresta, it's up by Bakersfield. My new companion will be Hermana Pincock. I have met her before just in passing, but I really don't know anything about her. It'll be interesting to see what happens, especially because she wasn't in La Cresta before either, so both of us will be new to the area and not know what's going on!! They don't usually do that!! 

So exciting thing of the week: We sat in an hour long Catholic prayer and taught the restoration to 15 die-hard Catholics all at the same time!! So what happened, we were in a trailer park and we saw some people outside and we started talking to them and they were trying to get rid of us, but we NEVER GIVE OUTS!! We always share our message no matter how brief and no matter how rude people are!! We always share!! So we kept talking, then they invited us inside for a prayer. There were 15 people in this tiny trailer, plus us, and it ended up being an hour long recited Catholic prayer with candles, guitars, singing, posters of Saint Guadalupe, shouting "Oh Santa Maria!!" over and over... the whole 9 yards!!! But at the end we asked if we could share a message at the end and they said yes. We taught the restoration, then they gave us dinner and dessert!! We kept talking to them and sent off 3 referrals (because they weren't in our area) and made one of them an investigator, and 2 of them were our current investigators and we got a return appointment with them!!! It was really awesome!! And they were really nice!! That experience was proof that if you kill people with kindness and share the gospel with boldness and love, hearts change!! It was truly a miracle!! We experience people having a change of heart every day as we share the message of the restoration! It is really incredible!! Not every one is serious later, but you know that at least in that moment they felt the spirit. We face a lot of rejection, but the tiny miracles WAY supersede the rejections!! 

I am so happy to be here and to be doing this work!! It is hard, of course, but why should I or anyone expect it to be easy?? We are representatives of Christ. Did Christ ever have it easy?? NO!! So why would it be easy for us?? But through Christ and His life and example we can have so much comfort and support!! He truly does know us and love us!! I testify that that is true!! He loves each and every one of you personally and individually!!! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ!!! I love Him so much!! And I love you all so much!!!

KEEP THE FAITH!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau

​5 empty boxes of Books of Mormon because we gave them all out!!!

​Amo este libro con todo mi corazon!!!

WEEK 11 AND PIE IN THE FACE!!!

Meagan Martineau	2:24 PM (7 hours ago)

It's so good to hear about all the good things going on at home!! I am so happy to hear that everything is going well!!

I am doing well!! This week has been pretty darn adventurous!!! A lot of funny things have happened this week!! I will explain later. Spanish is definitely coming along!! Every once in a while when we are talking to someone in English I will accidentally say some words in Spanish! Especially in prayers!! Praying in English is hard!! But it's good!! And no I can't believe that soon I won't be the new missionary!! I still am new!! AHH!!

So exciting things this week: The zone leaders smashed cake in my face... Hna White and I had a competition with them to see who could find 40 people in one week. The losing companionship got cake in the face. We found 25, they found 40. We got cake in our faces. It was so funny though!! And sticky... :) Another thing: we met a lot of really rude people that were so rude it was funny!! We just would go back to the car and laugh about how obviously rude they were! But it is really sad, because we teach them the entire restoration and they don't change, they don't feel anything, and they don't want what we have (at least they think they don't). It is really sad, but when you do find people that will listen and seem interested it is so worth it!! We have seen so many cool experiences about people just absolutely changing after we share the first vision and then accept out message. It is true a miracle, and we get to see that every day!! The first vision has so much power!

Another exciting thing that happened: We got attacked by dogs yesterday. We're fine, no blood or anything, it was just really scary! We were just going to see one of our investigators and we open the gate to go to their house and 4 giant dogs come running and biting at us!! Hna White was trying to open the gate while I faught them off with my bag!! Then the lady came out and was not as nice as she could have been and said "ya, you shouldn't come in here, they bite." And we said "Ya, we just figured that out :)" Then she said "Ok, well I have to go feed dinner to my kids." (it was 3 in the afternoon and her kids were running around outside). We taught her the restoration and testified and all she said was "that's great, now I have to go feed my kids." and walked away... It was really sad. I hope one day she will accept the message. And not have dogs that bite innocent missionaries.

So ya! It was an exciting week!! Hermana White and I are getting along better now. We were never fighting or never really didn't get along, but I just felt so inferior to her and felt like everything I did was wrong. But we have both been improving our attitudes and we have been getting along really well and laughing together a lot :) She actually wanted to take a picture with me today, which she normally doesn't do - she just takes selfies. So we are starting to be good friends :) I have definitely been humbled and have an awful lot more humbling and repenting to do, but I am getting better. I have noticed changes in myself and at least I hope they're for the better :) 

And tell everyone that commented on facebook thank you :) And thank you for sending those to me :)

I love you so much Mom, Dad, David, Ryan, Hailey, Nicole, Rhett, and EVERYONE!!! Thank you so much for being there for me and being such great support for me :) I really appreciate all that you do for me. I really want you all to know that I KNOW my Savior lives. I know that He loves each and every one of us personally. I can feel that love He has for everyone stronger every day as I testify to random people on the street that He knows them personally and loves them. I can feel that love He has for them as I testify of it to them. It is really a special thing. Sharing the gospel is really a special thing. It is scary and awkward sometimes, but it is more than worth it. So I challenge all of you, my family, and whoever else my mom sends these letters to to share your testimony with someone, in person. It can even be as brief as "I know Jesus Christ loves you." But share it with someone, anyone, and I promise you that you will feel the Savior's love for you when you do that. And I look forward to emails next week about how that went for everyone ;) 

I love you all so much!! You are all wonderful!! Keep the faith and always remember the Lord!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau

P.S.

My Spanish is coming along!! I can see the improvement, for sure. It is definitely still rough and there is still SO much I don't know, but I have learned A LOT and I say "um" a lot less when we share the message of the restoration! I'm trying to continue to expand my vocabulary. I don't want to get stuck in the rut of only knowing the "missionary vocab." But it is coming along. President Rees' promise has come true. Even though it's not perfect, I can get my point across, and even though I don't understand everything, I understand the general point that they are getting at so I can come up with a semi-intelligible response. The Lord has certainly blessed me and I pray for the gift of tongues every day!!  Oh! and Hermana White absolutely loved her birthday present!!!! It's all her favorite stuff! and thanks for the letter! You are so generous, Mom!! And a  great role model!! I love you!!

 Our Zone :)

 Delicious!!!

                                                       

​Hermana White and I, taken just this morning :)

                                   

 Cake in our faces....

                                                 

Picture from exchanges two weeks ago. I was companions with the girl in the pink sweater.

                                                                

                                        

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meagan Martineau	1:45 PM (7 hours ago)

I'm so glad to hear about everyone and that everyone is doing well! I hope you all continue to do well!! There are many prayers in your direction every day!! To answer some of your questions now before I forget: I am in the Little Rock Branch, it's not a ward. I think those are just the English wards that it shows on the map, but I am in the same area as people in the Palmdale ward, but I'm Spanish speaking so I am in the branch, not in the ward. And time goes by really slow but really fast at the same time. It feels like I have been here forever and it's hard to think that there was actually life before my mission, it just feels like I have been here so long that that never happened, but at the same time I remember the day I flew to Mexico like it was just 2 weeks ago!! It has been crazy!! It's crazy to think of it like this: I have been out for a little over 2 months, which means I'm more than 1/9 of the way through, and in just a couple weeks I will be 1/6 of the way through!! That's crazy to think! I am kind of glad that it has been going by fast because it has been really hard, but at the same time I feel like it's going by so fast I'm not getting anything done!

Oh and it's Hermana White's birthday on Wednesday, February 3, so you should send a letter or a package or something for her! You can take money from my account to pay for it if you want! She likes chocolate especially Reese's and she likes those carmel/green apple suckers. Thank you!! And because you're going to ask, she is turning 20. 

Thank you for the update on color guard! I actually did hear before I left that they were doing a dark show, which is sad but what can you do? And actually I have been really missing color guard and my flag!! Every morning when we exercise I just keep thinking "I really just want to do color guard for exercise!!!" I am tempted to have you somehow mail me my flag!! I miss it so much!! 

Oh and you wanna know something exciting that happened yesterday?

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy that it snowed!!!!!!!!! It didn't snow much or for very long, but it still snowed!!!! It was so wonderful!!!! Except it was really cold, but it wasn't too bad until we were stuck talking to this guy at his doorstep for 30 minutes while the wind was almost blowing us over (it was almost tornado-bad wind) and it was snowing/raining and he was telling all about what we believe in (which was all wrong btw, but he obviously just isn't ready for the gospel yet because he is VERY close minding to accept the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet, not some guy that we worship or pray to. Anyway, ya  that's my exciting news!!!

Update on some of our investigators: Sully still hasn't come to church and we weren't able to meet with her last week because she wasn't home the days we were in Little Rock :( (We only go to Little Rock 3 days a week and are in Palmdale 4 days of the week) We had to drop Juan because he didn't come to church but he said he still wanted to learn, so I am just praying that one day he'll have the courage and faith to come to church so that we can teach him again!! So miracle of the week: We were knocking some doors because our appointment cancelled and we knocked on this door and a lady opened the door crying and said she needed a hug. She was going through a really hard time with her son and with her ex-husband and missionaries knocked on her door 29 years ago when she was going through a really hard time and sang her a song and she remembered the tune after all those years, so when we knocked on her door, again when she was having a really hard time, she asked us to sing that song for her. She hummed the tune so we could figure out what it was, and it was "How Great Thou Art" or in Spanish, "Grande Eres Tu." She just cried while we sang and the spirit was so strong!! Her name is Angela Torrez. 

Anyway, I am out of time again. And I don't have any pictures to send because my camera stopped working and won't turn on or charge. :(

Oh and what I want in my package: LETTERS AND PICTURES :) Thank you :)

I love you all so much!! Thank you for all that you have done for me!! You are all wonderful!!

Amor siempre,

Hermana Martineau

                                                 Hermana White and I from our hike last week.

                                                                         Hike!

                        Me sitting on the edge of a rock at the top of a mountain. Yes, that is snow at the top.                                                                No, we didn't go high enough to touch it.

                           Hermana White took a picture of me giving a card to a guy at the car wash.