WEEK 56!!! GOODBYE HERMANA ZAMBRANO! :( HELLO HERMANAS LATIMER AND ARCEO! :) TRIO!!! TRAINING!!!

Hello Hnas Latimer and Arceo!!

Goodbye Hna Zambrano :(

Me playing piano at the Christmas party!!

Some guy hna Zambrano and i talked to a few weeks ago made us plaques with our card!! We ran into him the other day and he gave me one and gave my companions wooden arrows!!

A Christmas stocking a less-active member made for me!!! <3

FROST!!!!! It's almost like a white Christmas!!

Meagan Martineau	Dec 19 (1 day ago)

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!! (Casi)

I am so excited for this coming week!!! So much is gonna happen!!!

But first, this week:

So on Tuesday I had to say good bye to Hna Zambrano and say hi to my old friend Hna Latimer and my new friend... HNA ARCEO!!!! My trainee!!! Oh my goodness being in a trio has been so much fun so far!!! I have heard so many horror stories, but honestly this has been one of the funnest weeks of my mission!! We all get along great and no one ever gets left behind! It's a little weird with teaching because we are trying to get our newbie to take charge in teaching, of course, but she has less opportunities to talk because there are 3 of us, but we are getting it down :) She is from Houston, TX, straight from high school, and she is so cute!! I love both of my companions to pieces!! So basically how it works is I take charge in training Hna Arceo, I teach her the special training program called 12 week, I teach her how to fill out all the forms and such and Hna Latimer can help if she wants. Some days she joins in and other days she just studies on her own when we do 12 week. It works out really well. She is good support! Poor Hna Arceo has such an irregular first 2 weeks in the mission because of Christmas and all the different and special meetings and such, so it's kind of weird to tell her how it normally is, haha! But she is doing awesome!! Tiene mucho afan!! They are both hard workers and make me push, and keep pushing so it's good!!

We've just been working and working this week!! We didn't have a lot of numerical success this week but we saw a lot of miracles and have found a lot of potential in the area!! On Sat. we had a ward Christmas party and I played the piano for the primary play, us missionaries sang a special song, and the members gave us missionaries a big basket full of goodies to share!! What a blessing!!! The ward is AWESOME!! <3 It has been a great week!! We have the same goals and desires in mind and I know that Heavenly Father is truly helping me out <3

Now for this coming week... unfortunately we do not yet have a place to skype... all of the members with computers and devices are going out of town for Christmas. A lot of people have offered to leave devices for us, but we can't take them... so we are still trying to figure that out, but no worries, we will work it out and call you Sunday morning to let you know for sure when we will skype :) So sorry for any inconvenience.. but that's the best we got right now. We have been calling and calling. But I will call you Sunday morning between 7:30-9am your time to let you know for sure when, but it will be 2pm or later your time for sure.

Also we have not yet had the morningside, it is coming up on the 23rd! And we get to go to the temple tomorrow!!!! Also Hna Latimer says HI!!!! And that she loves and misses you and is really grateful that you prepared her for the mission a little bit :) And I am still the designated driver and the other 2 take turns who gets the front seat :)

It has been fun!!

Well I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and let you know how lucky I feel to be a member of the true Church. It means absolutely everything to me and I don't know what I would do without it!! I know that our Savior lives. I know He conquered death. I know that because He lives, we can too. That is truly what we celebrate this time of year, that fact that He was born so that we can live. What a blessing <3 I love you all so so much and I hope this holiday season is the best of all!!! Remember your Savior and is will be ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Con muchisimo amor y mucho afan y espiritu de Navidad,

Hermana Martineau :)

WEEK 55!!! LA TEMPLE WITH THE ARVIN GROUP!!! STAKE CHRISTMAS CONCERT!!! TRANSFERS....READY?!?!?!

Hna White and I <3

Hna Ocampo and Roberta <3

The Arvin Group <3

Familia Navarro <3

Hna Ocampo and her daughter Jazmin, who's getting married on the 28th!!!

Hna Gomez and I <3

Some of the people from church!! Jenny, far left; Elder Hettinger; Evalyn; the bald guy is a non-member that's been coming to our ward and I translated for him in church (his Spanish isn't super good) and he is switching to English ward so he wanted a pic with all of us; Audrey, front middle; Elder Martin back by me :)

(sorry this is a pic when we weren't all ready but it's the only one I have :)

You know you're a missionary when..

(you can't really tell from the lighting but my knees are bruised :) )

#onyourknees

Decorating Jenny's Christmas tree!!

LA temple <3

Meagan Martineau	2:53 PM (5 hours ago)

CASI NAVIDAD!!

I am now just realizing that it's the 12th and there is only one more Pday before Christmas!! We have been talking with the members and trying to get a place to go. It's hard because there are 4 companionships that need a place, but next week for sure I will let you know and I will do it as late as I can!! 

So this week I got to go to the Los Angeles temple with the Arvin group and Hna White!! It was just like old times!! All that went were Ada and her husband (who's not a member) and her 2 daughters Roberta and Paloma!!! Roberta got to go in the temple and do baptisms!!! And la familia Navarro came and Berto got to do baptisms!! And Hno Rodier, Hna Gomez, Hna Ocampo, and Jazmin all came!! It was SO GOOD to see everyone again!! <3 I love those people so much!!! But I really love the Buena Vista ward too!! But anyways, we got to go and watch them do baptisms and look around the visitor's center a bit! There are so many beautiful Christmas trees!! <3 It was so fun to see the baptistry and feel the wonderful Spirit of the temple. What an incredible place to receive divine revelation from our dear Heavenly Father and perform sacred ordinances in behalf of those who have already passed on. <3 What a blessing this gospel is and what joy it brings to my life!!! I gotta say, seeing two recent converts enter into the temple and do baptisms for their ancestors is one of the most incredible miracles I have ever seen in my life. The Spirit was so strong and I just didn't want to leave!! The temple truly is such a special place <3

I also want to say that I am so grateful to everyone that wrote their testimonies for me <3 And thank you Mom and Dad for making that possible for me <3 It has truly meant a lot to me and is one of the greatest presents I ever could have gotten (besides seeing you all and being together <3). I will treasure these precious letters forever. They have truly strengthened my testimony and I have a lot more to read still!! I really appreciate all of it!! <3

This week we did a little more service for that English family cleaning up their yard again. Unfortunately they didn't want to hear about the gospel now, but one day they will :) We also got to help our investigator Jenny (the teenage who is getting baptized on the 31st) and her family set up and decorate their Christmas tree!! That was super fun!! Then we showed them the Christmas video #lighttheworld and the Spirit was very strong. It was such a sweet moment because her whole family was together talking to the missionaries!! Her parents still aren't fans of the church but I think we gained more of their trust :) It's just been hard to teach Jenny because every time we have an appointment her parents take them out of town so we can't... but she still comes to church and everything, so that's good!!

We also got to see Connie's family and had a Noche de Hogar with them, and Norma even came by surprise!! And oh man did Satan work HARD on preventing that lesson from happening between technical difficulties (we were trying to show them the restoration video), no sound, screaming kids, EVERYTHING!! But we finally watched it with hardly no sound so we explained it as it went. Despite all the distractions the Spirit was still strong! But both Connie's mom and Norma had surgeries too this week so they'll need a little recuperation time :)

Then yesterday, Sunday, we got to go to the Stake Christmas concert!! Each ward prepared a song and we all performed last night! It was SO FUN!! We sang "En la Judea". At the end of the concert all the wards came up together and we sang the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah!! It was SO MUCH FUN and made me feel like I was in choir again in high school!! It brought back good memories <3 It also reminded me of your Choir concerts which I miss and can't wait to hear again!!

Now transfer news... Ready???

So this week also we had interviews with President Layton and he told me at the end of my interview, "Buckle your seatbelt. This next week is gonna be crazy."

Now I know what he meant.

I am staying in Buena Vista

Hna Zambrano is leaving to La Cresta with Hna Badger

I AM TRAINING

I AM ALSO IN A TRIO

So basically one missionary is new that I am training and there will be a 3rd companion, Hna Latimer! And she will just kinda be around while I train my new companion!! So it will be very interesting!! I am really nervous but super excited though!!

I just want to finish with my testimony to all of you that I KNOW that my Redeemer lives. I know that Christ is my Redeemer and He makes it possible for me and for everyone to be clean from sin. He is the perfect filter. He is the Best Example there ever was and ever will be. I am so grateful for Him and all that He does for us. I can never thank Him enough for His Infinite Atoning Sacrifice <3

I love you all so much!!!

Have a great week!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau 

WEEK 54!!! SERVICE, MIRACLES, BLESSINGS!!! AND PRAYER ROCKS!!! A PRETTY GREAT WEEK!!!

First time eating Starbucks!!! It's a non-caffeinated chocolate milkshake thing!!

(We got it cuz Hna Zambrano had a REALLY bad day, so we went out for a treat :) )

We found rocks to paint with some recent convert kids that we are teaching the recent convert lessons to. 

We made prayer rocks them :)

Painting prayer rocks with the kids!! SO FUN!!!

Prayer rocks!

Olvidate de ti mismo y ponte a trabajar.

#lametadelamision

Meagan Martineau	2:42 PM (6 hours ago)

Dear Everyone!!

Casi Feliz Navidad!!!

This week was a good one!!! We got to do some service and other fun things and saw lots of tender mercies!! 

So a cool thing that happened is that we got a referral for a less active member that moved from a different part of Bakersfield. We decided to visit her and turns out she was a less-active from the La Cresta ward that I visited with Hna Pincock, and she remembered me from clear back then!!! And turns out her husband and 8 year old daughter are not members, so we will hopefully with time be able to teach them!! But she came to church yesterday so that was cool!! 

We also got to visit one of our member's sisters who is our investigator. We can only see her once a week because her husband is very anti-religion, but she is very interested in learning because her sister was a convert and she has seen the changes in her life. So we are excited about her!! Her name is Norma!! We also got to do some service for her and help her clean her garage :)

Then on Saturday we took out that member to a lesson with a new investigator who wasn't home :( but her 10 year old daughter was home cleaning up tree branches and leaves so we offered to help! We got it all cleaned up, then we saw a man across the street doing the same thing so we went over and helped him too. The miracles with that were 1. he let us help him (we offer service to almost everyone and they all say no) and 2. is a few days ago he found one of our Jesus the Christ cards that we give out on the ground and he told himself that if he picked it up and kept it that he'd get a blessing. Now a few days later, there the missionaries and a member are cleaning up his yard!! We are going to try by him sometime this week and teach him so that we can send him off as a referral!! (he only speaks English) But that was cool!! Then we helped a member make some invitations for a ward party coming up :) So lots of service this week!! It was so much fun!!! I always pictured my mission being full of service, cleaning, raking, etc. but turns out most Californians don't want help, but this week they did!! It was really fun and felt good! It just feels good to serve!!

There were a lot of miracles at church yesterday too because there were a lot of non-members there!! In gospel principles class it was almost all non-members and missionaries which was really cool to see!! Non of our investigators were there and there were some people there that were invited by members that don't live in our area, but that's ok because the ward is seeing success!! Our area is getting there!! We just gotta build it up!! I feel like this week was a building week and that in following weeks we will see things start to actually happen!!

Another super cool miracle that happened is that we were able to teach that same member's parents and pick them up as investigators!! So this wonderful member is Connie and her parents NEVER talked to the missionaries when she was learning. Apparently her mom only started warming up - kind of - to Hna Zambrano and Hna Blau not too long ago. Well Connie told us to go over and pretend like we were looking for her even though she wasn't home and see if we could share something with them. We did and it went well! We talked to her mom then she invited us for Sunday dinner yesterday! After dinner we taught the plan of salvation and how families can be forever through the restored gospel and her mom seemed to really like it. Her dad who is a hard-core Catholic and has never liked the missionaries listened and accepted to learn more too!!! The Spirit was very strong and it was a very special moment!! We are going back tomorrow to teach a FHE :) 

So things are looking up for the area!! And the Christmas cheer is definitely there :) We are getting in the spirit and all is well!! And I did get the package and I really appreciate it so much!! You didn't have to get me that stuff!! You are so sweet!! <3 I love you all so much!! I feel so grateful for all that I have and for all that Heavenly Father gives me. I know that I am so blessed. I am super blessed because I get the opportunity to go to the temple on Saturday with the Arvin group!!! So President Layton made a new rule that the 2 missionaries that had the most influence on a recent convert can go with them to the temple when they go for the first time and if they have family names. On Sat. the Arvin group is going and Berto and Roberta are both going to the temple and I don't know about Roberta, but Berto has family names!! So Hna White and I get to go just before she goes home!! So that will be so fun!!! But it's kind of crazy because we don't get p-day today, Sat. becomes our p-day for the temple, but we still get to email :) It might be a bit longer of a week because we don't get to have a p-day, but then we'll have p-day on Saturday and I will go to the temple with Hna White and then we get another p-day next Monday!! I am so excited!!! :) The Lord is so good to me <3

My new "life motto" that I am using every day in my journal is "I like today" so every day in my journal I write "I like today because..." and it really helps me to look at the good there is throughout the day rather than just feel sad when people are rude. Heavenly Father truly is always there for us.

Isaiah 41:10 <3

I love you all and I hope you have a happy Christmas month!!!!

Les quiero a todos ustedes muchisimo!!! 

Que tengan una buena semana :)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Martineau :)