WEEK 40!!! JESSE'S BIG SURGERY, NEW INVESTIGATOR ALBERTO WALKS 1.5 MILES TO CHURCH, AND MARTHA TO THE TEMPLE!!!

​Us and Sister Layton (weird lighting..)

​Exchanges in Lancaster with Hna Badger and Van der Toolen!!!! (you can zoom in and crop it)

When all the missionaries block in another missionary's car so they can't leave on pday, haha!!! (our car is the red one)

Meagan Martineau	3:37 PM (3 hours ago)

HELLO!!!!!!!!

I am so glad to hear that the fair went well!!! I thought I would miss it more, but we have been so busy I've hardly even had time to think that it was fair week!! Which is good I guess!! But I'll get to see it next year so it's all good :) Tell all the kids CONGRATULATIONS for me!!!! <3 :)

And thank you SO MUCH for the package!!! It was AMAZING!!!!! You are too sweet Mom and Dad!!!!  And tell Arlene and the Richardson's a HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! for me!!! I will try to write them both a letter but I am not feeling super well today and I might try to sneak in a 10 minute nap in the computer lab rather than writing so that I can have energy tonight. At the rate I'm at, I don't think I'll make it through the day!! But some how I always have the strength I need!! :) The Lord always works miracles!!! But anyway, I LOVED the package!!! I unpacked all the food but I have not yet had any time to look at any pictures... but either tomorrow morning or Wednesday night I will!!! (We have LOTS of calls and things and exchange things to do at night most nights so..) :) But I loved everything there!!! But I feel bad that you spent so much money, especially on those pens!!! You are the sweetest!! <3 And we're already going through the food :)

Just an FYI I'm not really a fan of cheetos anymore...Idk why!! But Hna White LOVES them so it's all good!!! 

As for Gage, he loves Yorks, Skittles, red creme soda (if there's anyway to get that to him), any pretty much anything else, those are just his favorites. Maybe M'n'Ms or something as well. :) 

Oh side note - I am SO sorry that another $37 was taken from my card.. that was to send Gage's package. I had no idea that it would cost that much!!! That was even the cheap way that will take over a week to send.. Idk why because it wasn't even heavy!! It was a kinda big box cuz that's all I had.. Idk... but I'm sorry!! :(

So Frida is still doing good!! Still coming to church and her kids are even liking and asking to go to church!! Now she just has to talk to social services to figure out what to do with her living situation so that will take some time, but we are still working with her. Jesse goes in for his big surgery on Wednesday to fix his intestines. He got a Priesthood Blessing yesterday by Hno Rodier, the man from Bakersfield who helps with the group every Sunday and baptized Ada, Roberta, and Paloma. Jesse really liked his blessing!! He is so funny and tries to act all "cool" even though he gets really excited about spiritual things. So he just laughs when he feels the spirit and it is hilarious!! After his blessing he chuckled really big and was all smiley, which is cool to see from a tattoo covered ex-gangbanger!!! :) He also came to church again and he is really understanding our message better. He reads the Book of Mormon ALL the time and is really progressing!! And we have a new investigator Alberto who Hermana White found with Hna Gonzalez on exchanges so I've never taught him yet, but he came to church yesterday!!! That was unexpected!! He even WALKED there, about 1.5 miles in the hot sun!!! And the Moreno family came to church again!! They are getting more excited about the church again, especially Juanita, who is 17!!! (That's the family that we found a long time ago with the son Jessie that almost got baptized). So yesterday was a good day at church!!! Also we are working with getting our recent convert Martha Sigala to the temple this Friday!! We are praying hard that she will feel ready to go!!! (She's scared that she'll see dead people come out of the walls, no matter how many times we tell her that won't happen. She's so cute!!)

As for the family of 10...We are no longer teaching them... Some of the kids still read the Book of Mormon and every time we see them in their trailer park they ask us when we're coming to teach them...But the parents are very interested anymore.. Don't really have a desire to go to church... It's sad, but one day those kids WILL be missionaries!! We can just see it!!! They'll get to the baptismal font somehow, someday :) 

We continually find people, but I only write about the ones that keep commitments and look more promising to save time :) We have Stake Conference here on Sept 18 at 10 am in Bakersfield, but beforehand at 8 am someone from the area 70 is coming to meet with our group. ALL the group members have to come, he will speak to us, see how many of us there are and everything, and that basically will determine (as far as we know) if we become a branch or if we have to stop the group and go back to the ward in Bakersfield... So a LOT is riding on the next 3 weeks on us to get people to go to this meeting that morning!!! Investigators, members, less actives, EVERYONE!!! We are a little (very) stressed, but it will all be ok!! The Lord will help us, that's for sure!!! We and the members have worked to hard to dismantle the group!! LOTS of prayers going to Heaven!!! :)

Oh and tell Taryn CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) and I cannot WAIT to hear if I will have a niece or nephew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (PS Mom I will be an aunt regardless of the gender of the child ;) )

I love you all so much!!!!! Thank you for all the love and support you send my way!!!! Thank you for all you do for me continually!!! I love you so much, and I love my Savior with ALL my heart!!! <3

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

WEEK 39!!! LOVIN LIFE, LOVIN THE WORK, LOVING THE PEOPLE, AND LOVIN THE LORD!!!

Been a long hot week, but I'm still chuggin' along. Or I guess you could say, I''m still "swimming"!!! (in sweat!!! HAHA!!!) :) I'm punny :)

​Me and Hna Zambrano on exchanges!!! 

​Us and Hna Luquette after district meeting. We got pizza :)

We got 3 bags of grapes from people!! I LOVE ARVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​Some of the things people gave us this week!! (there are a few other bags of grapes I didn't put up there) People are just so giving!!! Yes we got little doll - jewelry holder things from a new investigator!! :)

​Sorry the only one I got of this exchange was blurry.. :)

Meagan Martineau	Aug 22 (1 day ago)

FAIR WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been thinking about you a lot Mom and Dad because of this crazy week you have coming up!!! (well actually I only thought of it yesterday as we pulled up to the Bakersfield church and I heard some lambs baa-ing ;) ) I am glad that other people are helping so you don't have to do it all alone!!! I just remember having to make the sign, clean the grain, shear EVERY SINGLE SHEEP, feed the sheep, washing the sheep, clean the barn, and sheep sheep sheep!!! But I'm glad it's not too burdensome!! Let me know how everyone does and I want pictures!!! And HOLY COW time is going by fast!!!! I NEVER thought I could make it this far honestly!!! At the beginning of my mission and before I left I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to make it very far and would go home early, but here I am, and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!!!!!!! I do NOT want to go home early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Sorry about no pictures :( I'll repent ;)

So answer time: 

Hermana Luquette is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! Her Spanish is amazing and she is the cutest, sweetest girl in the world!!!! She asked to take a pic with Hna White and I because she is so appreciative of what we do as STLs!!!!!!!!

We found out this week some things that Frida did in the past that will take longer to repent for... so she will have to wait on baptism but we will still be teaching her and helping her through the repentance process. And who knows, maybe along the way her boyfriend will soften his heart and be ready to be baptized with her when she repents!! :) But she is awesome!! Hasn't missed aSunday! :) And Jessie came to church again!!! He is such a miracle!! He, like Frida, is someone you would never think would want the gospel!! It is amazing the miracles the gospel works in people's lives!!! He is faithfully reading the Book of Mormon every single day!! 

The things I bought in Bakersfield were for Gage's birthday :) That little stinker has sent me 3 small packages now and I have only sent him one small one, so I wanted to get a little more for his birthday!! :) (Also I would appreciate it if you could send him something! You can take some of the stuff you were going to send me (if they're good for guys) and give them to him! I don't really need much or anything! I'm doing good!!!)

It is still pretty hot!! Not scorching like it was, but it's about 100-105 every day and some days it's like 95. It's not as bad, but I seem to be sweating more!!! It's just gross!! :) 

We had 2 exchanges this week, I went with a new Hna, Hna Zambrano and Hna White went with Hna Blau (who is my sister in the mission because we have the same "mom" - Hna White!!!). It was really fun and she's a super cute girl!!! Then we had another one with Hnas Williamson and Gonzalez from Little Rock again, but this time they came to Arvin because they have progressing investigators so that's good!!! It was good to finally have an exchange in our area and get some work done here!! It's always kinda hard on our area the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the transfer because of exchanges because we can't be in our area very much, but "some how" it all works out ;) So it was a pretty good week!!! Tomorrow we have Zone Conference and another exchange coming up in Lancaster so that will be fun!! :) 

I'm lovin life, lovin the work, lovin the people, and loving the Lord!! <3 I love the mission and the things I am learning!!! I just love the people here so much!!!! <3 and I love you all as well!! Thank you for all your support and love towards me!!! <3

Les quiero y amo muchisimo!!!!

Nunca olvidenlo!!!

Amor siempre,

Hermana Martineau :)

WEEK 38!!! A GREAT NEW INVESTIGATOR, AMAZING FRIDA, AND A STRING OF MIRACLES!!!

Sunset in Arvin

Meagan Martineau	3:37 PM (1 hour ago)

HOLA!!!!!!!!!!!

To answer your questions quick: Some apartments have washing machines in them, some don't. None of the Hermanas areas do so we have to wash them in our apartment complex laundromat and in Bakersfield and Little Rock a member let us use their machines :) But I have no idea about the Elders other than our zone leaders in Bakersfield have their own washing machines :)

And that less-active member lives in Lamont and I didn't know she even existed until a member asked us to help her do service for her! We went and picked up her dirty clothes so that the member could wash them, then we brought them back to her :) So I don't really know her, I just talked to for a little bit that once. All I know is that she lives alone and she has some sort of heart problem. She is so humble and SO sweet though!!! When we were leaving she gave us a bag of grapes and 2 water bottles, which was about half of what she had in her fridge, bless her heart. She was so so sweet and so grateful for us taking her clothes for her! People like her make me want to be a better person and more giving!!

And I have only been asked to speak in Sacrament twice, once in Bakersfield, and once in the group, but Hna White and I have been asked to teach Relief Society twice here, last minute, which was exciting!! And I don't play piano at church because there's not a piano there, but I do play at district and zone meetings every week, so I play 2 hymns a week!!

Oh, Mom, and I met Hna Luquette!!! She is in my district!!! She says to tell you hi and thanks so much for the email and that you are the cutest person she has ever met!!!

Things this week have been great!! Hna White and I are still getting along great!!! There were just like 2 weeks where she was pretty annoyed with me but we talked about it a lot and discussed what we both needed to change to fix the issue and this week has been great!! It's been a lot of fun and we saw a lot of miracles and success this week!!! We found a new investigator named Jessie Bueno who is about 28ish, COVERED in tattoos, recently out of jail, was shot in the stomach 5 times in April AND LIVED, and we found him taught him, he is reading the Book of Mormon, he came to church yesterday, and he is coming to the noche de hogar (family home evening - we have one every Monday in a member's home) tonight!!!! He wants to change his life around and he is willing to do what it takes to repent and be forgiven from God!!! He is AWESOME!!! The only bad thing is that he is having another big surgery on his stomach at the end of this month and will be in recovery for a few weeks/months, so he physically won't be able to be baptized for a while... but he is doing what he can now so that when he is healed he can get dunked!!! :)

As for Frida....SHE IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! She still can't get baptized because of her living situation so we asked President Layton about it and he suggested that we try to teach her boyfriend and then share a little bit of the law of chastity to explain to him that that's why Frida can't get baptized then counsel with them to see what we could do to help. So we did just that.

 It was a whole string of miracles that we had a member, our lesson fell through, we went to see Frida, her boyfriend was HOME, which he NEVER is and when he is he won't talk to us, but Frida wasn't home yet so he HAD to talk to us, then Frida got home, her kids were ASLEEP so they weren't crawling all over us and screaming so the spirit could actually be there, and everything!! The whole lesson set up was a miracle!! We sat down with them, taught him the restoration and Frida bore the most powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon that I have ever heard. Her testimony hit me to the core that it really IS true. EVERYTHING about the restoration IS true. She pleaded with him to just read it and listen to us. At the end of the lesson he flat out denied everything we taught him. It was really sad, especially for Frida. When we tried to explain the law of chastity a little bit he just got mad and stormed out. It was hard because he was mad at Frida, which we did NOT want to happen, but she is hanging on strong, still came to church yesterday with her kids and she told us how grateful she is that we came into her life!! She is such a gem!!! I love her so so much!!! Now we are just fasting and praying that she can get out of her abusive situation and get baptized!!! 

So that was our week!!! It was pretty good!!! Adelfo and Griselda didn't make it to church yesterday, we're not really sure why, but we'll find out what happened!! 

We've seen a lot of miracles and have had a lot of Heavenly Help for sure!! Even the Hermanas in our stewardship are progressing and getting better which is good!!! We are happy!! :)

I love you so much!! Thank you for all you do and for all your support!! Thank you for the uplifting words and scriptures, but things really are going well and we are doing good!!! I love you so much!! Have a great week!!! <3

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

A few old pictures because she didn't send any this week.

WEEK 37!!! I LOVE ARVIN!! I LOVE THE MISSION FIELD!! I LOVE MY SAVIOR!!!

ice cream in Tehachapi <3

​a cute little less active lady from Lamont that is less active due to health problems. We did service for her last week. She is so sweet!! It is the most humble of circumstances you've ever seen <3

And the man is her friend that comes and takes care of her <3

​The members who came to noche de hogar last week (family home evening) We have one every Monday with the group members that want to come :)

All the STLs in the mission at MLC (mission leadership council) last week :) The one normal pic was blurry so there are only these silly ones :)

​the sisters in our zone this last transfer :)

Our Zone :)

​Our district this last transfer

Meagan Martineau

Keep me updated on the Summer Hills!!!! I don't want to lose that!! Other than church camps it's the only place I've ever gone camping!!! <3 And was that activity with the primary? That sounds super fun and adorable!! Tell the color guard congrats for me, and tell Kristy that I love and miss her dearly!!! <3 I'm sorry about your uncle, Mom... I don't know who he is.. but thank goodness for the plan of salvation, right!? :) oh! And could you send me some scripture markers, preferably not those crayon-y ones, but something that won't bleed through the pages? The ones I have now bleed through a little bit and I don't like that.. :) Thanks!! <3 And thanks Dad for the update and for your great example! Thanks to both of you for the scriptures and everything! I love you so much!!!

And transfers...we are both staying!! And all the Hermanas are staying the same except for Hnas Blau and Perry will be training!!! So other than that it's all the same!! I'm happy to stay in Arvin!!!! :D

Everything's been pretty good this week!!! We ran into a lot of crazy people this week... A man in Tehachapi told us ALL ABOUT how the King James Bible tells us MULTIPLE times that we SHOULDN'T get baptized and that we only need to accept Jesus in our heart. He shared a verse in....(my memory is bad) John 3:3? I don't know.. but it said that we need to be born of the Spirit to be saved and he went off ranting about that. He didn't take the liberty to read 2 verses later though that says that salvation only comes through baptism in the name of Christ. Haha!! It was funny!! Then another man told us all about his multiple encounters with God and all the times the aliens took him at night.. It's been a weird week!! But Frida, Adelfo and Griselda came to church again yesterday!!! So that's good!!! Frida's baptismal date was for this weekend, but... that's probably not going to happen. She wants to get her boyfriend involved too, which is good, but he is just so terrible to her and to their kids that I'm not sure I want her to marry him.. But maybe he'll have a change of heart!! We'll see what happens!! And Adelfo and Griselda are just the cutest, humblest, tiniest little people you'd ever meet! I love them so much!! Things are looking up for them :) Hopefully they will get baptized this month!! And the Moreno family....is struggling. Having problems with their dad. They were finally able to make it to church this week but then their dad left the 2 young boys (who stayed home with him) home alone and txted us to tell us that they needed to go back home to watch them.. He is like trying to keep them from church which is weird because he used to be the super active driving force of the family.. We'll see what happens. Lots of prayers going their way!! 

Well that's really all the updates I have this week... Sorry it's kinda short! I just love all the people I am serving with and I love this great opportunity I have to serve the Lord!! I love Arvin!! I love the mission field!! I love my Savior!!! <3

Have a fabulous week!!! I love you so much!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau 

WEEK 36!!! SO MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT TEACHING, ABOUT HOW TO BE A MISSIONARY, ABOUT LIFE!!!

​Vallarta <3

​splits with Hna Ocampo :)

​just for you Mom!!

Meagan Martineau	3:17 PM (5 hours ago)

I'm so glad you got to visit with Hna White's family!! She tells me a lot about them!! And she's actually told me those stories before :) (we have been companions for almost 6 months now!!) But I'm not so sure I believe she was shy before her mission!! She is too awesome!!! :)

Tell the kids in the group "HOLA!!!! Les extrano muchisimo!!!" for me!!! And I would like pictures of them at fair time, if you could.. :) I miss the Summer Hills, but that's ok, because they'll always be there!!! We have the pictures you sent me of the old cars hanging on our walls!! :) 

Oh where to begin with the week? I always forget what happened during the week when I sit at the computer!! Well we had mini-exchanges with Hnas Blau and Perry because they are really good Hermanas and we think they are going to train soon, and the Assistants to the President have told us to work closely with them to fine-tune their skills, so we did! I went with Hna Blau this time - for the first time!! It was fun!! She's a fun girl!! We found some new investigators and I learned a lot, like always!! I have SO MUCH to learn about teaching, about how to be a missionary, about life!!! But it's ok, I'm learning :)

And this week has been 110+ ALL WEEK. One day it was 115 all day... Yesterday was the coolest at 104, and it finally cooled down to 98 at night, which was super nice!!! I have been sweating BUCKETS and have had to change my clothes a lot!! ;) And we still do exercise - run - every morning, even in the heat!!! We've only been running a little over a mile a day though, instead of like 2.5 which we were before. It's just too darn hot!!!

To answer questions:

So we went by for our appointment with Frida and she wasn't home, which never happens!! She's always home!! So we thought she was actually moved out - gone. And she doesn't have a phone (or so we thought) so we couldn't contact her... But after lots and lots of praying, finally on Friday night she called us on her boyfriend's dad's phone to tell us she was still at home and to ask why we haven't been over!!! How cool is that!?!? So then we got her a ride to church again and had a lesson with her after church. This was her 3rd Sunday at church!! :D And she says she doesn't ever want to miss a week!!! <3 yesterday in the lesson she was taught the law of chastity (because if she wants to be baptized she'll have to move out of her boyfriend's house) but I actually didn't teach her! We did splits yesterday with 2 ladies in our ward because we had double booked appointments all night!! I went with Hna Ocampo and Hna White with Hna Navarro. They are the 2 members that we consistently eat with every week and are the 2 most active members in the group!! So we took them out!! It was super fun!! but really weird not being with another missionary!!! But the lessons all went really well!! And Hna White said that in the lesson with Frida she told them how much she wants to be baptized she just feels guilty like she needs to repent and that after they explained the law of chastity she understood that that's a big reason for her guilt and she asked how she could change to start living it!!! She is so awesome!!! <3 (now we're just praying that she can move out soon -- we found out too that she does have a phone, she just can't let anyone she lives with know or else her boyfriend will break it :( )

President and Sister Wilson were very professional and kept everything that way, scripted and orderly, everything was perfect from ironed clothes, to sparkling white teeth, to starting meetings on time - to the second just about. And President and Sister Layton are more relaxed and very focused on the spirit. Both are EXCELLENT and I love both of them SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to stay with Hna White!! And I WANT TO STAY IN ARVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't want to leave this place!!!!!!!!!!! I think it would be really fun to "kill her" (be her companion when she "dies" (goes home)) especially because she is my mother!!! (my trainer) :) We honestly have no idea what will happen next transfer though, but I think we will stay together :) And the group had about 20 people at church my first Sunday here and now there are about 40ish people. There are a LOT of less actives though!! And speaking of which we found another less active member we didn't know lived here named Fernando so that's good!! He tried to come to church yesterday but couldn't find it :( next week though!!

Fires by us are contained, but they are still burning in Palmdale... Everything is going pretty darn good!! I am happy and healthy!!! Sorry I don't have much more time to finish answering questions, but I'll write you a letter finishing them :) 

I love you so so much!!!! Have a FABULOUS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the love and support!!!! Always remember your Savior Jesus Christ in all things!!!!! <3

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau