WEEK 79!!! HERMANA MARTINEAU'S GRAND ADVENTURE COMES TO AN END!!! THE LAST EMAIL FROM HERMANA MARTINEAU IN THE CALIFORNIA BAKERSFIELD MISSION!!! A SWEET AND TENDER TESTIMONY!!!

Devil's Punch Bowl!!!

Water Break!!

Hna Weaver and I Hiking <3

HERMANA DAY!!! I LOVE these Hermanas so much!!! <3

Luis and Mariangela <3

Hna Rosario and Vanesa <3

The Rasch Family <3

America <3

Meagan Martineau	11:58 AM (4 hours ago)

HOLA QUERIDOS MIOS!!!!!! <3

I just want to let you all know how much I love you and how much I love the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ <3 I am so grateful for this missionary experience I have had. I couldn't have spent the last 18 months better!!! I have seen my testimony grow so much!!! I knew the church was true before. I knew that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I knew that we had a living prophet! But now, that "I know" (but I still kind of have questions, and I don't really understand...x, y, z...) has turned into I KNOW without a single doubt in my mind that these things are true. NOTHING can change my mind about that, except God Himself. I have seen SO MUCH JOY come in my life from this knowledge!!! I feel so blessed to have grown up in a home where the truth was taught to me <3. I know that this gospel really brings peace, it gives us understanding, clarity, and hope. God is a God of miracles, of perfect love, and of hope. That hope and the demonstration of that love comes through Jesus Christ. I KNOW that He IS our Savior. Without Him there would be no hope. Without God there would be no Christ. It all just perfectly works together to give us the best chance possible to make it back to God <3. I know that His full truth truly has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. What a blessing it is to know that we are guided by a prophet of God today, and that we are promised that he will never lead astray. I have seen so much divine guidance and support in my life as I've followed this gospel and kept the commandments <3 I couldn't be more grateful!! 

Well, this last week has been great!! It was like every other wonderful week on the mission, we talked, knocked, testified, and rectified our paths. (me trying to be poetic in the honor of Grandpa <3)  Yesterday our investigators Luis and Mariangela came to church again!!! Last week they missed the Sacrament and they said that it was similar to their service, so why would they switch, and we told them that they missed the most important part!!! Plus we persuaded them with the fact that it was fast and testimony meeting and that I would be giving my last testimony and I wanted them to be there :) And they came!!!! Now I just hope and pray that they felt something during the Sacrament and have the desire to try it out again, next week!! ;) 

Last night we ate with the Rasch family, the ones that do our laundry and let us skype at their house!! They made us "vampire tacos" for my last member-meal :)They are tacos with carne azada, avocado, mangos, pico de gallo, salsa, and chipotle mayo (that's the American-y part of it) and the two tortillas on the bottom (all real tacos have 2 soft, corn tortillas underneath the meat and such ;) ) have melted cheese between them!!! It was SO GOOD!!!! After that we did some tracting and we talked to a lady who doesn't believe that we need Christ to be saved, that we can just pay for our own sins. We testified of the healing power of Christ's Atonement and then we gave her a Book of Mormon so that she could learn more about our beliefs about Christ. She was very defensive the whole time, up until we gave her the Book of Mormon, then she suddenly got very interested!! She gladly accepted it and said that she would read it, we left her with our testimonies and wished her a great night :) I just love testifying to people!! That is what I will miss most of all, I'm sure. 

As for the rest of the week, on Monday we had an Hermanas activity!!! Us, Hnas Perry, Badger, Latimer, and Arceo got together and we went hiking around Devil's Punchbowl!!! It was so much fun!!! <3 We found a little stream, took off our shoes, got all sorts of wet, and just enjoyed each other's company :) It was awesome!!! I am going to miss the Hnas so much!!! They have become such great friends to me!! <3 Then on Wednesday I had my departing interview with President Layton. It was a good interview. We just talked about my studies, what my plans are for college, work, etc. afterward. It was nice :) I'm kind of scared to go back to the real world and to not have the missionary spirit with me all the time, but I know there are bigger and better things out there for me :) 

Well, folks!! I love you so much!!! I am so excited to see you all soon!!! This has been the craziest and best ride of my life!!!! I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!!! I love you all so much!!! I love this gospel so much!!! I love everything about this mission experience I've had!! I will share more about it in the next coming days and weeks ;)

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

WEEK 78!!! "I MAKE YOU FEEL LOVE BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!"

Hnas Martineau and Weaver

Leti and Hna Martineau

Meagan Martineau	May 22 (1 day ago)

Hello Everyone!!!!!

I just want to say how much I truly love you all!!! <3

I had a really cool experience yesterday that I would like to start off with :) (maybe I should end with it, but I just want to say it ;) )

Yesterday we were teaching a new investigator named Carmelo. He is in his 50s and has never prayed before, so in this lesson we taught him about prayer, how to pray, why we pray, etc. and how to feel the Spirit. I testified that I when I pray and read the scriptures I feel love. I told him that when I feel that feeling of overwhelming love, I know it is the Spirit. Then Hna Weaver stepped in and testified about how when she feels the Spirit she feels happy, and that all of us feel the Spirit a little different. As she was talking I thought to myself, "Why is it that I feel so much love when I feel the Spirit? Most people say 'peace' or 'joy' as a forefront." As I thought that I felt the words in my heart: "I make you feel love because I love you!!"

Before my mission I couldn't say that I knew God loved me. I knew He loved everyone, but it was really hard for me to believe that He loved me too. Through my mission I have gained that knowledge that He truly does love me, and after that simple, yet beautiful experience yesterday, I know now more than ever that He truly does love me. I know that now. I can feel it. I know that He loves everyone equally, including you, including me. I am so so grateful for that little tender mercy I had yesterday. I will never forget that. I will never forget that He loves me <3

That was one of my testimony builders this week :) A tender mercy we saw this week was being able to set our investigator Kamall with a baptismal date for June 17!!!! If he makes it, and we leave early enough, we can go to the baptism!!!! He is an English investigator that we have been trying to pass off to the Elders, but hopefully this week we can hand him over to the English Elders to be taught!! (and Mom, that would be to Elder Bird!! You can tell his mom that I trust him to teach Kamall :) I don't trust every Elder, but I do trust Elder Bird and his companion to take over from here :) )

Another huge tender mercy was seeing our investigators Luis y Mariangela come to church yesterday!!!!!! They are that cute old couple I told you about a few weeks ago!!! Their progress has been SUPER slow and we were thinking they might not go anywhere from here... but on Saturday we had a super bold, completely unplanned 'you need to come to church' lesson, and...it worked!!!!! They left after Sacrament meeting, but they said that it was "mas tranquilo" than their Catholic services!!! So that's cool!!! It was such I blessing to see them walk in!!!! <3

As for the rest of the week, we had exchanges! My last exchange, and Hna Badger's last exchange!!! And yes, we were companions, and yes, it was super fun!!!! My whole mission my goal hasn't necessarily been to get baptisms, instead, it's been to see people change. It has been such a blessing to have gotten to know Hna Badger at the beginning and get to re-know her now! She has changed SO MUCH since the beginning and it has been really neat to see her progress!!!! Being able to be on exchanges with her this week helped me realize that I am seeing people change for the better and come closer to Christ!! I just need to look harder!! Hna Badger has always been there, but I've just been blind until now to see her progress!!! We had a fun last exchange!!!

As for other news from this week, we had interviews with President Layton and a district activity on Monday playing "signs"!!! It was really fun!!!

That's about all for this week!!!

I love you all so much!!! Please always always remember how much Heavenly Father loves you all!!! Remember that no matter what happens, Christ is ALWAYS there for you, even in the good times He is there <3 I am so grateful for Them and for all that They do for me!! I would be NOTHING without Them!!! 

I love you!!!! Keep the faith!!!! <3

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau

P.S. There are these cool things called "Fidget Spinners" They are super fun and I really want one when I get home.... :) they're only like $5 or less sometimes ;)

P.P.S. I love you all SO MUCH!!!!! <3

WEEK 77!!! "I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ON MY MISSION!!!"

Joshua Trees

Joshua Trees--the Weird Wonders of the World

The weird wonder that is the Joshua tree

Exchanges!!! They're so cute!!! <3

Temple Trip!!! (the Elder in the yellow tie isn't going home with us, but he went with us because he is leaving early, in the middle of next transfer. Also Sister Harmon was not there because she was sick..)

I love Starbucks double chocolate cream base frappuccino, thanks to Hna Zambrano :)

A gate without a fence...that will sure keep the robbers and missionaries out! ;)

Departing Missionaries at the LA Temple

Meagan Martineau	11:30 AM (12 hours ago)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

It was SO good to talk to you all yesterday!!!!!! <3

There was so much I wanted to tell you all and I feel like I didn't adequately express my love for you all. But I truly love you all so much!! You have made me who I am today!! Thank you so much for all your constant support and love!! Thank you all for being there for the skype call and talking to me <3 It was so fun!!! You all look great!!! I can't wait to see you soon!!! (But I can wait 2.5 more weeks ;) )

Some things I forgot to ask about in the call:

>How was Grandpa's funeral? When was it? Who all spoke, etc? Did a lot of people come? How's Grandma Caroline doing with it all?

>When I get home, Mom and Dad, are you going to be working still those first 2 weeks, or will we have a day or two all together to go through pictures and stories and such?? :)

>Our branch is having a talent show my last Saturday here. What should I do? I've gained a LOT of confidence on my mission, but I don't know if I've gained enough to sing a solo... (Hna Weaver doesn't sing) What do you suggest? :)

>There was something else, but I don't remember... I'll get back to you on that :)

So this week we had exchanges with Hnas Latimer and Arceo!! The last one I will have with them.. :( I went with Hna Arceo!! It was like old times!! Her and I back in action!! She has grown SO much since I was last with her, it was awesome!!! She has gained so much confidence!! I just love them so much!!! I love all the Hnas so much!!! I am going to miss them all dearly!!! I only have one more exchange left, with Hna Badger... I will miss them so much!!!

On Friday I went to the temple for the departing missionaries' temple trip. It still feels so unreal!!! But we met at 6am with the other missionaries and Hna Weaver went with Hna Perry for the day to work, and Hna Badger and I went with the other missionaries in a van to the temple. We got Panera Bread bagels on the way down and when we got there we took pictures of all of us with President and Sister Layton :) Then we went in the temple. A member gave me a family name to take for them, so I took her to do her initiatory, then we met in the chapel in the temple. There, one of the councilors in the temple presidency at the LA temple spoke to us and I got to play the organ for the opening song!!! That was like the coolest thing ever! Playing the organ in the chapel in the temple!! (yes Mom, I am grateful for those piano lessons ;) )

It was a beautiful session, as always, and I felt so much peace there!! It was wonderful!! I wish I could go to the temple all the time and just sit in the Celestial room <3 I went in with the question of what career path I should take, or at least what direction I should go with studies in school...No answer about that specifically, but I did get an answer that I need to learn from everyone and everything around me. There is a part in "Jesus the Christ" where it talks about how Christ knew about all occupations, all the animals, foliage, He was very knowledgeable and in-tune with everything around Him. I feel like that's what I need to do, and then I will figure out what I need to do in life :)

So I have a little story that I wanted to tell you yesterday but the conversation never went that route :)

So before my mission when I would play piano in Sacrament Meeting, if I messed up a lot I would get SO embarrassed, I would run in the bathroom, hide and cry during church and it ruined my whole day, me thinking that I am a terrible person because I messed up the songs a bit. 

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting the intermediate hymn was "Amad a Otros" ("Love One Another"). I can play that song...in English...not in Spanish. The rhythm and notes are very different and it's hard because I'm not used to in that way!! SO... I messed up A LOT... 

BUT, the difference this time was that I didn't have those thoughts this time!! This time when I messed up, I sat back down in my seat and chuckled to myself, wow, those notes and rhythms were way different!! haha!! That's weird!! Well, I did my best!!! And I didn't think any more of it!!!

I am SO GRATEFUL for the things that I have learned on my mission!!! It is awesome!! I feel like I have truly learned to master my thoughts and get rid of the negative thoughts immediately. It's really hard sometimes, but I have learned how to do it! It has made me such a more positive person!! I now realize that it doesn't change who I am if the members think I'm a bad piano player because of one rough song! It doesn't change my worth! I can truly say that I know that now! I know that I have worth in God's eyes! He knows the truth and I know the truth, and that is all that matters! I have learned that time and time again throughout my mission, and yesterday just confirmed how much I have changed because of that knowledge!! I still have a LOT more learning and growing to do, but I do know that I have grown a lot. I am not the person I was, but I am so grateful for that!! I thank Heavenly Father every day for changing me, because I needed it!! 

I am amazed every day by the perfection of God's plan: the grand plan of salvation, but also His individual plans for each of us. I never planned on serving a mission, but Heavenly Father knew I needed to so I could learn this super important lesson, among many others. He truly knows what He is doing and does everything He does to help us out <3 I am so grateful for that!! <3

I love you all so much!!! I love my Father and Brother so so so much!!! I wouldn't be here without all of You :) I know the gospel is true. I know it because of the happiness that comes from it :)

Thank you for sharing that happiness with me <3

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love siempre,

Hermanita Martineau :)

WEEK 76!!! GRANDPA'S PASSING!!!

Lola <3

Serving in the Sun!

Service with Hna Parra!

MLC!!!

My Comp and I!

Exchanges!!!

Meagan Martineau	May 8 (6 days ago)

Hello my fellow friends and family!!!! 

A quick update on me to start, I am doing just fine with the passing of Grandpa. Of course I was sad to hear the news, but in times like this I am more grateful than ever for the Plan of Happiness :) I know that he is fine :) I feel confident and happy that he is finally free from all that pain he was in :)

Physically I am feeling MUCH better too!!! I'm still pretty darn tired, but the nausea and weakness has left me. The last 3 days have been great!! I went to the doctor on Friday and they did some tests. I was supposed to get the results from my blood work on Saturday, but they never called.. So today we will know what it was :) But they also took a urine sample and I have a stinkin' bladder infection. I swear, every time they take urine, I have a bladder infection!! But whatever :)

This week was pretty eventful!!! On Monday night we started exchanges with the Little Rock Hnas, Hnas Latimer and Arceo!!! It was so fun having them back!!! It was like our trio all over again, plus Hna Weaver so it was even more fun!!! :) I went with Hna Latimer :) I was NOT feeling well AT ALL on the exchange and we had to come back for little extra study while I rested. But it was a good exchange! It was good to work with Hna Latimer one on one :) She is such a sweetheart!!! <3

Then on Wednesday we had MLC!!! They let Hna Weaver stay with us which was fun!!! So she got a sneak peek on what MLC is like!!! It was my last MLC ever. It was amazing like always but it was pretty hard to stay awake...but it was good!!! The whole time, the whole 5 hours we just talked about the doctrine of Christ!! It was so cool to learn more in-depth about His doctrine :) I loved it!!!

Thursday we did some impromptu service for a member in her garden and I was gaining my strength back so I was well enough to pull some weeds :)

Friday we went to the doctor and they checked my blood. Hopefully I'll know today what the verdict is!! :) After the doctor we started exchanges with the Esperanza Hnas, Hnas Perry and Badger!! I went with Hna Perry!!! It was super fun!!! I was feeling quite a bit better so we went out and actually worked and it was awesome!!! 

Saturday we finished the exchange and went to our branch Mother's Day dinner :) The men did all the planning, preparing, cooking, everything so the women could enjoy!! It was awesome!! :) We just ate dinner and they had a little auction for the YW camp fundraiser, then us missionaries sang "Madre Te Amo" :) 

(And I didn't know Hna Posada recorded that haha!! She called last night and told us that you saw it with Grandpa :) )

Then yesterday we had church. I LOVE church!!! I am going to miss church as a missionary!! And after church we parked the car and talked to people on the way walking to dinner. We gave ourselves 2 hours to walk to dinner (it wasn't that far away) and talked to people, then we talked to people on the way back to the car from dinner. On the way to dinner we talked to some people in their car. The guy in the passenger seat has some interesting trials, but we only talked for about 2 minutes, gave them a Book of Mormon and they drove off. After dinner while walking back I kind of wanted to knock on a certain door. There were no cars in the driveway or signs of anyone home, and I don't usually go for those houses, but we knocked anyways. When the guy opened the door it was the guy from the passenger seat of the car!!! Turns out his friend kept the Book of Mormon and we were able to give him one as well and testify of the healing power of Jesus Christ. I felt the Spirit probably the stronger I ever have while testifying of Christ to him. It is incredible how even just Christ's name brings comfort <3 It was a huge testimony builder to me that this isn't my work. This is the Lord's work that I am blessed to be a part of :)

I am so grateful for God's perfect plan! I know that it is real, I know that it for us, I know that it gives us strength. It gives me strength. I am so glad I get to share this incredible plan with everyone I can!! I just pray that more people will want to hear it!! 

I love you all so much!! Please always remember how much love your Savior has for you. It is infinite <3

I love you all so much!!! 

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3

Hermana Martineau's Tribute to her Grandfather, Reed C. Jensen, Feb, 27, 1930---May 7, 2017

I feel very honored to be the granddaughter of Reed Jensen. I feel honored to have known him.

He is such an inspiration to me, always. 

Choosing to go on a mission was hard for me. I struggled a lot at the beginning to keep going. One preparation day near the 6th month of my mission, my mom emailed me and told me that she was reading my emails to Grandpa every week. I always had the feeling that I might not see Grandpa after my mission, so I wanted him to have something good to hear each week from my emails. I realized that sometimes I didn't write the most uplifting stuff.. I decided to change. There were a lot of factors to me changing my thoughts and feeling about things, but a big catalyst to that was knowing how badly Grandpa always wanted to serve a mission but couldn't. Now I get to serve, and knowing that he was reading my emails made me realize that I should be more grateful for the things I was learning, no matter how hard it was.

My mom said that he, in a way, was living my mission through my emails, so I wanted to give him good stuff to "live". Having that change in attitude about my life and the things I was doing really made a difference in every way. I was able to focus more positively and testify in every email. I always wanted to leave my testimony just in case it was the last email he would hear. 

Grandpa wasn't with me physically, but he still helped change my life, simply by being my wonderful, jolly Grandpa :) I am so grateful for him and for his faithful example. I know he was in a lot of pain, but he never showed it. He never once complained to me or showed his pain. He only showed joy. :) 

I remember one time I went to visit Grandpa with my mom, but we had to go later that day because he wasn't home. We went back later to find out that he went to the temple. He told us about how hard it was to be wheeled in and have someone help him change, then he told us all about how beautiful the temple is and how much he loves it there! I hadn't been through the temple myself yet at the time, but the way he talked about it made me certain that it is the House of the Lord. He bore such a sweet testimony of the sweet feeling there and at that moment I knew that the temple is where I wanted to be! He helped me realize that it is worth sacrificing for, and it is a privilege to attend. I am forever grateful for that testimony he gave me.

I know he is a strong man. I see the way my sweet mom looks up to him, and I know he is a great example. I am so glad I've gotten to know him over the years. Some of my fondest memories were taking him to the auction and he was always my favorite house to visit on Halloween ;) 

Grandpa will truly be missed, but I know without a doubt that he is happy, healthy, relaxing, and rejoicing. I feel honored to serve alongside him in the mission field now. He is serving from the other side, but we are both doing the Lord's work. I know that's what he has always wanted and I am glad that he finally gets to :) I can't wait to see him again, meet the people he is helping, and introduce him to the people that I helped :)

I love you all so much and I am excited to see you all again, including Grandpa <3

Love,

Hermana Martineau

WEEK 74 AND 75!!! HER WRITTEN EMAIL FROM LAST WEEK NEVER CAME THROUGH, SO WE GOT A TWO FOR ONE TODAY!!!

My cute companion and I <3

The HERMANAS!!!

One of our boiled, colored Easter eggs. It's a BYU fan at heart.

Hnas Zambrano and Weaver

TRANSFERS!!!

STL meeting in Tehachapi - waiting outside in the cold for President Layton to come open the doors!

The other Hermana Training Leaders - Hnas Dye and Torres, Hna Weaver and I <3

Also on Friday we made dinner for Elvia and her family because Friday is when she has her chemotherapy and she can't cook, so we made her an enchilada casserole! :)

Hna Weaver

Hna Zambrano

Meagan Martineau	12:36 PM (8 hours ago)

Well folks, I received notice that NO ONE got my well-thought-out, thought-provoking, Spirit-filled email last week, so I guess you'll have to settle for this one as double duty :p

Just kidding, it was the average email from yours truly :)

I will try to remember the week before last week to the best of my abilities:

Ok I remember nothing, other than from the appointments I can see from my planner :)

Nothing really super noteworthy happened other than transfers on last Tuesday, then we had a ward picnic on Saturday and Hna Weaver got to meet all the members!! 

I do remember that at the picnic a less active from our area went. We sat by her and her non-member husband and at the end they said they might come to church, and they did!! Then in the evening we went to visit them. They didn't want us to come over, but her active-member mom told us to come by anyway haha! While we were there she said that she felt really good when she took the Sacrament. She said it felt different than any other time she took it. (preface--she was living with her boyfriend but they just got married a month ago) We told her that she felt better because she was keeping the commandments and Heavenly Father was proud of her. She said that our meeting that night was very "therapeutic" :)

A little about my companion Hermana Weaver:

She is from Orem, Utah. She is 19 years old, went to BYU Provo for a semester before her mission studying English. She has a lot of Spanish experience because she went to a bilingual elementary school and had one hour a day in Spanish growing up, then studied it it high school and college, so she is a lot further along that the average missionary 4.5 months in!! She is a good, hard worker and loves to read!!

As for my STL duties:

Yes I will do 2 exchanges with each companionship to work with each Hna :) We are having the first exchange tonight :) I am working with Hnas Latimer and Arceo (they are companions again!! How fun!!) and Hnas Perry and Badger!!! I am so excited to be with them all again!!!

As for this week:

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was incredible!! As always :) We learned about the scattering and gathering of Israel. I am so proud and humbled to be a part of this great work. It is so much more important than I ever thought!! I definitely want to study more about the House of Israel now and how us as members can greater help with the gathering of Israel :) I was really sad at the end though, because then it was over.. My last Zone Conference that I will be a part of ... But that's ok. It was fun to see everyone!! It was a combined conference with Palmdale, so we got to see Hnas Perry, Badger, Latimer, and Arceo!!! <3

Then on Thursday we had an STL meeting in Tehachapi with all the other STLs and with President and Sister Layton :) They just had Hna Weaver step out and study while we had the meeting :) 

So this week has been very hard on me physically. This whole transfer so far I have been feeling VERY tired. On Wednesday I could NOT focus in the morning and was getting NOTHING out of forcing myself to stay awake and stare at my scriptures, so I took a nap, then got a Priesthood blessing. I felt a lot better the rest of the day!! I am SO grateful for the Priesthood!! What a blessing it is to have that power!!! <3 Then yesterday I felt very weak. Everything hurt really bad and my head was spinning. In the middle of the street I lost almost all strength and had to sit down on the side walk for a few minutes. Then we quickly (as quickly as I could) made it back to the car and went home. I took a 2 hour nap and then Hna Weaver asked me if I was feeling well enough to go out. I didn't think I could, but it had been a VERY slow week teaching wise. As of that point we had all 0's for our numbers that we report, and that has NEVER happened to me before, my whole mission!! I said a prayer and asked for strength and for a miracle as we went out. We went out and visited an investigator. She was busy, we walked from there to a potential. Not home. I started feeling weak again and almost gave up and said we could go home early, but I felt like if we just went a little further, a little longer, it would be ok. We kept walking and met a cute couple outside of the house of another potential of ours. We introduced ourselves and asked if they had a few minutes that we could share something with them. They said yes and we walked with them to their house.They are now new investigators!! And they both have Mormon family members!! They were pretty serious about coming to church next Sunday!! What a blessing that was!!! 

I know that Heavenly Father blesses us so much when we do His will instead of ours! If we push forward just a little further than we think we can, within reason, He gives us the strength that we need to do His work, to help another person, and to feel better ourselves!! I know that God's power is stronger than anything and everything and can help us overcome any struggle!! 

I am so grateful for the Priesthood and the knowledge of God's grace and love <3

I love you all so much!!

Stay strong!! Keep fighting the good fight!! 

Trust in your Savior, He can and will help you through!!

Love siempre,

Hermana Martineau <3