WEEK 35!!! FRIDA IS WONDERFUL, EFRAIN IS A MIRACLE, AND NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!

NO PICTURES this week, so I am recycling some old ones. :)

Meagan Martineau	3:32 PM (1 hour ago)

I am so glad you got my letters!!!! And don't worry about your emails Mom, they are perfect!!! I love hearing the goings-on and the spiritual thoughts!!! They are just perfect!! And thank you Dad for emailing me!!! It was so good to hear from you!!! <3 Sorry your trip was painful, but I am glad that you had fun!!! And I'm glad that you had a good birthday Mom!! I wanted to send you something but I never had time to buy anything, nor would I have had time (or money) send it!! Sorry!! But I'll bring souvenirs home in 10 months!!! ;) 

To answer questions: It was our last exchange for the transfer, every transfer we do at least one exchange with each companionship of Hermanas :) So next transfer (if I'm still a Sister Training Leader) we will have 5 exchanges to do again, but that's ok, because they are lots of fun!! And I have no idea about transfers yet, we still have 2 weeks till transfers because this is another 7 week transfer :) 

Frida is doing WONDERFUL!!!! She came to church again yesterday with her kids!! We have been seeing so many changes in her since we have been teaching her. She used to just yell and scream at her kids, and now she is holding them when they cry, she is paying more attention to them, and her kids have been less terrible during lessons!! We usually get about 1/2 through before they start jumping on us, but then Frida just asks them to stop and they listen a lot more now!!! It is incredible!! And she looks a lot happier and has a lot more light. She is reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying every day, which is something she has never done before! Her family is changing for the better!!! We are so excited for her!! It is so good to see people that WANT to grow closer to Jesus Christ and are WILLING to make changes to do it. How great is that!? It is my favorite thing to see: people changing to grow closer to Him. <3 But sad news is yesterday morning her terrible boyfriend kicked her out of the house so she has to move out... Really sad that he is so terrible to her, but it is better for her to move anyway because she is not in a good situation there and her kids are afraid of their dad... So it's better, but hard for her. She just doesn't know where she is going to go now.. :/

And Efrain is a miracle!!! He came to church again as well!!! Besides the last 2 Sundays he hasn't been to church in 25 years, and now he's coming back, and coming back strong!! He is participating in the classes and doing all he can to be worthy of the Melchizedek Priesthood!! How great is that!?

This week we found some new investigators that we hope will progress!! They are formers that came to church and were only dropped because they moved, but they moved back!! We "ran into" them the other day and they told us to come by so we did, and they are awesome!!! Hna White found and taught them last year when they moved! The Lord has definitely been good to us this week!!! <3

I am so glad that everyone is doing well!! That brings me comfort!! I pray for you all every day!!!! And for my friends that are on/going on missions, CONGRATS!!!!!!! You won't regret it!!!!!!! I love you all so much!!!!!!! Keep on smiling!!!!!! Keep on trusting in the Lord, because at the end of the day He's all you got!!!!!! What a BLESSING the gospel is and how great is the knowledge of it!!!!!!! I thank the Lord every day for giving me such wonderful family and friends that have been such good examples to me all my life!!!! I love you!!!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

WEEK 34!!! STILL DOESN'T LIKE DRIVING, FINAL EXCHANGES, A NEW, INSPIRED MISSION PRESIDENT, COOL FRIDA, AND THE LORD HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO US!!!

Estoy in Mexico! <3

​Little run-down shacks in Lamont (a little town just like Arvin, right next to Arvin)

Another run-down shack.

​Exchanges!! We're unintentionally tall-to-short :)

Welcome to Arvin!

Meagan Martineau	Jul 18 (1 day ago)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE IT WAS A FABULOUS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so sorry that last week was short and this week will be too.... I am really trying to stay within an hour for emails... And some computers can't send pics so when I don't send pics it's because of that :)

So this week we had our final exchanges with Hnas Pincock and Hansen!! I went with Hna Pincock, my old companion!!! It was so fun!!! And it was down in Palmdale so I got to drive for 2 hours there and back again!!! (I don't like driving still!!!) But we had a lot of fun!! Then we had interviews with President Layton! He is such an inspired man!!! He shared with my the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes and really applied it to me personally and it was exactly what I needed to hear. I love him and Sis Layton so much already!!!

So we've been teaching this girl named Frida (I don't know if I've written about her or not yet) but we found her "mother-in-law" (boyfriends mom, but they call each other husband and wife, even though they're not married) named Ana a little while ago and had really good feelings about her and she told us all about her terrible, horrible "daughter-in-law" Frida. Then one day we met Frida and were scared from what we had heard about her, but she was actually really cool!! We ended up dropping Ana because she was never home for appointments, but Frida always was. And.... SHE CAME TO CHURCH yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! She has 3 CRAZY kids - the craziest of crazy kids I've ever met (well her son, not so much the daughters) - and they all came to church with her!!! She really liked it a lot!! We never would have thought that Frida would be so cool and progressing!! From our first encounter with her, then with her kids, and from what Ana told us, we never would have thought that she would be so cool!! That just goes to show that Heavenly Father knows His children, not us, so we gotta put our trust in Him and treat everyone the same, no matter how they seem at the beginning.

Also, up in Tehachapi we found 2 less-active hispanic families that didn't know about the Spanish church in Arvin!!! (in Tehachapi there's only English) And one of them came to church yesterday!!!!!! His name is Efrain Cardona and he has the Aaronic Priesthood and wants the Melchizedek!! You know what that means?? MORE PRIESTHOOD IN THE ARVIN GROUP. You know what that means?? ARVIN BRANCH. You know what that means?? ARVIN STAKE (one day)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are SOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) The Lord has been good to us, for sure!!! I don't know why, but He has!!! I love Him so much!!!! And I love you all so much!!!!! Have a great week!!! <3

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

WEEK 33!!! New Mission President, Fun Exchanges, and Golden Family Back!!!

Meagan Martineau	3:20 PM (5 hours ago)

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

So quick question Mom, you say everyone loves my "posts" or that you tell people "where to find my emails." Where is that exactly? Just curious! And for everyone reading my emails, sorry that there's like personal stuff to my family because I just don't have time to write a general email and a personal one to my parents!! :) But I still love you all!!

I am so glad to hear that everyone is doing well and I am glad to hear that you are keeping busy!! THANK YOU for telling me what you're doing, what you're up to so I don't feel so out of the loop :) And oh my goodness the pictures from those weddings are DARLING!!!!!!!! It is SO WEIRD that everyone is getting married!!! I still feel like a 16 year old sometimes!!! It's so weird, especially just hearing about it!!! But it sounds like everyone's doing good and enjoying life :) Tell all the 4H kids and parents that I love and miss them and that I wish them the best of luck!!! And oh my goodness I cannot believe that Tyler Murdock is back already!? How did that happen!?? I guess time flies when you're having fun!! And what's more fun than serving the Lord!? NOTHING!!!! 

So my new mission president, Pres Layton and his wife are SO CUTE!!! They are VERY TALL!!! They are both like 6'2''!!! They are VERY spiritual and focused on revelation which is good. He seems to be a hard worker and really wants to do what's best for the mission. I think he is going to do a great job!! I do still miss Pres and Sis Wilson though!! When you go to their homecoming just tell them that I love them so much and sincerely loved serving with them and that they influenced me so much for the better!! They are such great examples and I will miss them dearly and I am very grateful for their service!

So on the 4th of July we had an early curfew of 7 pm because of drugs, crazy illegal Mexican fireworks, crazy drunk drivers, etc. So we had a little extra time!! But we had some calls to make because some Hermanas in our stewardship are having problems so we had to work with them a bit, did lots of praying, called them, called our assistants to the president to talk about it to see what more we could do to help and such. So it wasn't super relaxing, but it was 2 extra hours!! Then Wed. we had MLC (the meeting with all the zone leaders and STLs, the assistants to the president and the President) with Pres and Sis Layton!!!! They are so wonderful!!! It was such a spiritually uplifting meeting!!! Then on Thursday we had a "getting to know the new president" meeting with them and we got to learn more about their personal lives and who they are, which was really fun!!! Then Friday we had exchanges yet again with Hnas Blau and Perry. I went with Hna Perry and we had so much fun!!! I love our Hnas!!! They are all so cute!!! Miracles always happen on exchanges!!! We have our last (possibly) exchange this transfer tomorrow. So ya, it'll be good!!!

Sorry I am pressed for time... I will hopefully have more to tell you next week!! This week was good, just average and ordinary :) Oh and I almost forgot, that big family of 8 kids that we sent off to the English elders got sent back to us!!!!!!!!!! So we get to teach them again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll fill more in next week, hopefully all good things!!!!!! :)

I love you all!!!!! <3 Remember the Savior!!!!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau :)

WEEK 32!!! A Good and Crazy Week Again, Like Always, Driving, Driving, Driving, Exchanges, Fires, and "Too Nice of Investigators!!!"

​my face is changing... it's like longer and skinnier.. I look more like Ryan now!

​exchanges in Little Rock with hnas Williamson and Gonzalez!!!

Meagan Martineau	2:37 PM (5 hours ago)

HOLA!!!!!!! 

I am doing well!!! This week has been good!!! A little crazy like always!! We had 2 exchanges this week on the other side of the mission, so I had to do a lot of driving again!!! I'm going to be a pro soon!!! Driving from Arvin, to Lamont, to Bakersfield, to Lancaster, to Palmdale, to...EVERYWHERE!!! We had exchanges with Hnas Williamson and Gonzalez in Palmdale/Little Rock where I was "born" (in the mission). I went with Hna Gonzalez again. Then we had exchanges in Lancaster with Hnas Van der Toolen and Badger. I went with Hna Badger. Both exchanges were super fun!!! I always have so much fun and learn so much on exchanges!!! I just hope the other hnas have fun and learn something too!!! But because of exchanges we didn't have too much time in our area. Last week I didn't really write about our investigators because we weren't sure how "cool" they were or not. We ended up dropping a lot of them this week and some that we found this last week have already been dropped. Like I've said before, it's really easy to find here because everyone is so nice and so willing to listen, but most aren't interested but just pretend to be. Then we'll call them to confirm appointments and they say yes they'll be there, then we bring a member, go to their house, and they're not home or don't answer the door. They are just a little "too" nice and like to lie to please us... So we've had a LOT of that recently so we're not really sure how serious any of our investigators are right now. We'll have to see. :)

So is Maree married now? You said that she was getting married but never told me when!!! And I would like some pictures too!!! And pics of Robyn and her hubby-to-be!!! How's Ryan and Nicole with the baby on the way??? And I didn't tell you President Rees came because I thought you knew!! Dad did and emailed me about it!! :) But no it didn't disrupt anything and it wasn't distracting :) I didn't know the whole family was there too!! I'm glad they liked Arvin!! It really is Mexico!!! And I LOVED the package and everything in it!! don't worry, we are going through it all!!! :) And we're good on everything, not missing anything, so thank you!! I really appreciate it!!! <3

YAY for David!!! I am so happy for him!!! And tell Hailey that her hair is DARLING!!!!!! <3 And I want a pic of the kittens!!! And McFarland is only an Elder's area because it's "too dangerous" for Hnas. But based on what the movie looks like, it's pretty much the same as Arvin!! And that skirt is new, I bought it here for next winter because this last winter I froze cuz I only have summer stuff!! 

And about the fires: I haven't heard much about the one in Lake Isabella, but it's about 20 mins away from me, and the one in Tehachapi was pretty big!! We were in Lancaster when it was burning so we didn't see it, but we had to take the long way back because the road we usually take was burnt up and the mountain is like all black!!!! We can see it from Arvin, it's only a couple miles away and it is BLACK. But the fire is gone. It was just on the mountain. Tehachapi is fine though :) But one of our investigator's husband's farms was burnt and they lost all their animals!! :(

The new mission president is President Layton. I have not met him yet, but I will on Tuesday at MLC (a training meeting for the STLs and zone leaders so we can train our stewardships better). And tell everyone at home HOLA!!!!!! for me!!!!! And Hna White and I get along GREAT!!!! Before when we had some tiffs it was my fault because of my pride of always wanting to be right. I am learning and working on humility, and everything has been really good with her!!! There is a good possibility that we will stay together until she dies (goes home). It just depends on what President Layton wants to do because STLs are STLs for usually 5 transfers but occasionally for 7. Hna White's 5th transfer as an STL will be her last one so she will probably be one until she dies. As for me, it depends if they are going to call another STL companionship. Because if not, we will stay together till she dies, then I will train a new STL and stay an STL for 2 more transfers, but if they decide to call another companionship then we will probably split up to train the new STLs. But we think and hope we'll stay together and in Arvin!!!!!!!!

And why do you want a pic in front of a white wall?? :)

I love you all so so so much!!!!! Thank you so much for everything!!!! You are all amazing!!!! I love my Savior so much and I am eternally grateful for Him!! I love this gospel and I am so grateful and blessed to be a part of it!!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3