Thank you so much for everything you said, Mom!! I love you so much!!! And to everyone else that said hi, thank you so much!! I love you all!! I just feel so happy to be in the Lord's work!! It is really hard in a lot of ways and very emotionally and spiritually strenuous, but it is SO WORTH IT!!! I have just had a blast!!! I love sharing the gospel with people!!! Whether they accept or not, it is so fun to just get the message out there!! Every time I share my testimony my faith increases so much!!
About my companion, Hermana Pincock: We get along great!!! She is really fun and has a lot of fun and laughs a lot!! She loves the work and is great!! Just when we're home she likes to do her own thing and talk and tell stories and not necessarily study as much as she should... She is NOT a morning person so she likes to get ready and then go back to sleep for personal study. But it has been a little better this week. I have been trying to subtly hint at her to study. Companion study has been a LOT better and she has done personal study twice this week!! There is improvement!! I seeked some advice from my Mission President and he gave me some great tips that I am going to try and incorporate this week to help her :)
About our investigators: The work is a LOT slower here in east Bakersfield.. The finding is WAY less than in Palmdale, but the few investigators we have are pretty serious!! But Satan is working SSSOOOOO hard on them!!! Our investigator Luis had his baptismal date for March 25th but he wanted to get baptized sooner and he's had all the lessons before so we just have to review with him, so we reset his date for the 11th (this Friday - our bishop here likes to do baptisms every other Friday... it's weird), but we would have to teach him EVERY DAY to get all the lessons in until then, and it was going to work, but then an emergency came up and he had to leave for the weekend, so he won't get all the lessons in again on time... but we got permission from our bishop to set him for the 19th. Hopefully he will come home today and we can see him tonight to reset him for that day!! Then our other investigator Lizet really wants to learn and get baptized, but every time we have a lesson with her she has to cancel because someone in her family dies!! It is really sad. Their family is going through a really hard time. Her brother got shot in the head, but survived, then we went back and she found out that her uncle died and her mom went to Mexico to the funeral, then we went back again and her cousin had just died, then we went back and her grandma's best friend died, so her mom went back to Mexico to console her mom..... It has been CRAZY!! And she's only 15!! Poor girl... apparently a gang is out to get her family... and they are finding them.... it's really sad and scary. So we will have to see with her... Then we have another investigator Saul who really wants to change and be baptized but he works SO MUCH we can only see him on Wednesdays... So his progression will be slow.. We'll see how that goes. We are also teaching 2 families right now.... it's really interesting and I don't have time to write about them now... We'll see how that goes!! :)
Also, we have a pet snail. I found him stuck to our apartment building so we though he was dead. I put him in the sink and was going to clean out the body after nightly planning, but he came out of his shell and is very much alive... We have him in a jar. His name is Larry :)
Tell hello to EVERYONE!!!!!!! :) And that I love them all and pray for the ward back home every day :)
Tell the Payne family hello for me and that I love them so much!! Tell all the Old Barn Folk a warm hello and that I miss them and I miss my ticket-taking days, and in 15 months I will be back at it!! I am so glad that everyone likes their gifts!! They didn't have much for me to buy, but I did what I could!! :) That was very sweet of Arlene!! I'm sure Hermana White will do that :)
I love you all so much!!! You all mean so much to me!!! Thank you for all that you do for me and thank you for the prayers!! I am learning so much every day!! Even though it is hard, I LOVE sharing the gospel!!!! I love you so much!!! I love my Savior and I love my Father SO much with all my heart and soul!!!
Keep staying strong!!!
Love siempre,
Hermana Martineau
PS FOLLOW UP TIME!!! I challenged all of you who reads these emails to share your testimony with someone, and I would LOVE to receive an email or letter on how that went!!! :) Your testimony truly is strengthened when you share it!! :)
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| Awkward selfie I took cuz I feel bad I haven't taken many pictures.. :) |
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| Hermana Pincock and I |
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| A map of our LARGE area!!! |
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| Our areas. It's split up by color so we can use our miles more wisely cuz it's so large :) |
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| Empty pizza roll!! :( |
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| HE'S ALIVE!!!!!!! |
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| Larry the snail <3 We'll probably let him go today though... |
Love reading Meagan's letters! So fun to see missionary work happening all over, and just like she challenged us, we can share our testimonies and be missionaries right here at home. I try to share my testimony often, but most the time it is with people who already know, they just need a little reminder! I will keep working at this!
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