We typed the current member list of the Ponderosa Branch into a spreadsheet. That took a couple of hours. I am out of practice with spreadsheets! We met with the Elders at the Gonzales meeting house and shared the list with the two companionships that work in Camarillo. We went to find our 1/3 of the list and made some progress. We were just visiting the ones that are not active. We couldn’t find many at home. One house said that the people on our list didn’t live there. We took some time to find an apartment near the Stake Center. All of the buildings had numbers and then different numbers for every apartment. We finally found the right one but no one was home.
Went to El Camino Real Ward in Oxnard. President Thunell was
on the stand. It was Fast Sunday. There were not as many people rushing to the
stand to bear their testimony but the time was filled up. I’m guessing that the
youth were invited to bear their testimonies last month. And they did. Relief
Society was a good experience. The teacher is relaxed and the sisters are
willing to contribute. They seem to know each other well and act like friends.
The Ponderosa Branch was filling up today. Sister Victoria Branch and a young woman next to her got my attention and asked me to come talk with them. They are both temple workers and the annual devotional was at 1:30 today. The workers could each invite one guest if they wished. They asked me if we would like to go. I remember being in that huge solemn assembly room several times and would love to go again. The first time I was in that room was when my Dad took me up the elevator and showed me the room when it was empty. It seemed so huge. We also got to go to the devotionals when we worked in that temple. So, I accepted their invitation. Lewis was talking with President Parra about the people we and the missionaries were visiting.
The meeting was conducted by Presidente Parra. He is very well-spoken and comfortable in front of people. There was a new couple (very elderly) who were visiting for the first time. Hermana Parra was sitting with them. He welcomed them and everyone and after the Sacrament, he bore his testimony first. He began by telling a story. He is a good storyteller and gave us all the details of how stressful it is to wait in the security line at the LA airport and worry about making your flight. He was going to Ecuador and asked the man in front of him if he could go ahead because he was worried about getting on the plane before it departed. The man in front said, “That flight is not going anywhere.” Then Pte Parra was very worried that the flight had been delayed or canceled. There are not a lot of flights to that destination and he didn’t want to miss it. He had an important business meeting to attend. When they finally got to the conveyor belt, the man in front of him turned back and told him. “You will be just fine. That flight isn’t going anywhere until I get on the plane. I am the captain of that flight.”
Many people bore their testimony and the time was filled. We had to get up and leave in order to get to the temple on time.
Victoria had invited us to go with them but she forgot
that she had all of her cleaning equipment in the back seat of her car. So they
went with us. It was fun to talk with her. The other girl (I learned later) is
a service missionary and she said she needed to sleep during the drive.
Victoria did not have the card with her that she needed in order to bring a
guest. So, they called Sister Blickenstaff (Her husband was formerly the Stake President) who had a card with her and she didn’t need it for someone
else. She waited for us to arrive and we all got in the temple. We all had our
recommends. Victoria had to go to the office to confirm she was a worker. It
all worked out and we went to the solemn assembly room. The Southern California LDS Choir
was singing. The music was amazing for me. There are very few voices compared with the
Tabernacle Choir but the quality seemed equal to me. They had three men with
flutes that added so much in addition to the organ. It was very impressive. I loved being
there. But it was loud. The girl said she needed to sit somewhere else. The
devotional itself was wonderful. The Temple Presidency spoke and a GA Seventy.
I was happy that we were able to be there. But we didn’t know how to find the
girl after the meeting was over. It turned out that Sister Blickenstaff had
told me that she had something in her car for Sister (unheard by me) and would see us out
front, but I thought she was speaking of her sister and didn’t think of the
missionary. I didn’t hear the we will meet you part. We waited a long time at
the exit in the front of the temple, where we entered. Lewis went to see if she
was waiting at the car. We didn’t know that people exited from many different doors.
But finally, we went back toward the visitor center and found them. Sister
Blickenstaff is on a service mission herself shepherding the young missionaries
that are serving that type of mission. So they were friends and I was clueless
until it all came together. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed our adventures. Lewis
did a lot of driving.
It was interesting that the day was so full. We got home at
dinner time. Lewis had not eaten (except for water) since Friday dinner. I ate
breakfast on Saturday but had fasted since then. We were very hungry but we had
been fine (except for feeling hungry) all that time. I can do intermittent
fasting if the day doesn’t require a lot of energy and I am busy and distracted
from thinking about food. We ate the soup that was in the refrigerator and
toast. It tasted wonderful and we enjoyed a couple of chocolate peanut candies
as well.
We walked as we always do and then went to Food Share and spent a shift filling boxes with food. This time Lewis did boxes and I added the flyers. There was another lady helping with the boxes and things went very fast. I had a hard time separating the flyers and getting two of them into each box. It was kind of fun trying to keep up. When we have to get more supplies, it breaks it up the rhythm but we were pretty efficient. Wonderful people volunteer here. The lady we worked with has been involved for 2 years. The other side was a very nice older man who would wait when I got behind.
We went
to Winco afterward and brought home more produce and bulk items. We are so
blessed to have good food available to us. We love to eat and we need to be
satisfied with fewer treats. Self-control is the only problem. I also went to
the lab at Kaiser Permanente and had my blood drawn for a TSH and a lipid test.
We went to the Mission Office. I got a copy of all the missionaries that are in
the Camarillo Zone with photos. That will be helpful. It was nice to get to
chat a bit with the office people.
I had a fun time with Emily and my sisters. I went to pick up Emily
and then asked her to drive to Thousand Oaks since I didn’t know where the
restaurant was. She works on that street so she knows it very well. We went to
Café Rio which is one of my favorites. I never get tired of Mexican food and
rice and beans are on my diet. The same menu has higher prices here. Another
advantage of Idaho. Christ wasn’t feeling great so she stayed home. Kathy,
Jeanine, Mindy, and Gracie came. Emily shared her cancer journey so far. She
and Kathy spent a lot of time talking. As we left Kathy said that Emily is a
special person. I certainly agree with her. There was a big family there also
and before they left they asked if one of us would take their photo. One of the
girls recognized Jeanine. They had been in the same ward. Emily jumped up to
help them. We enjoyed our food and the chance to be together even more. I did
just fine driving at night. I just need to keep up my skills by driving more
often. Below is Emily, Kathy, Jeri, Jeanine, Mindy, Gracie. Chris wasn't feeling well.
Went walking and made yogurt. I have been reading a chapter of the
Book of Mormon every day with Lewis. We are now having him read the chapter in
English while I follow along with the Spanish. Then I read it in Spanish and he
corrects my pronunciation. I am a lot better than I was at home but I am not
speaking Spanish very well. Duolingo helps but can’t do magic. Lewis’ fake
butter is pretty good. The yogurt was a failure but I do have very healthy milk (full of probiotics) for my cereal.
Got up early and found the Royal Palms Mobil Home Park. Lots of
people have volunteered. We got a complete training and snacks and drinks. The
Red Cross has partnered with the Oxnard Fire Department and they are offering fire
alarm checks and replacements as needed for free. There have been very sad
fires where family members have been killed or hospitalized for up to a year
from burn injuries. They are trying to make alarms available to all. It doubles
the chances that a family will survive a fire in their home. The alarms are
the new lithium battery kind that doesn’t need to be replaced for 10 years. We
were given a map with about 15 addresses. We spent more than 3 hours and
installed 11 fire alarms. We had a ladder, two bags of supplies, and a clipboard to fill out the paperwork. Also, the alarms and the tools. Maybe a third
of them we not at home. Two different men said they had all the alarms they
needed and they all worked so they declined. We did get invited in by about 6 mobile
homes. They were all very grateful and one mom gave us two water
bottles to thank us for coming. There were little kids and single men and older
people. One didn’t have any alarms at all. Most were old and several didn’t
work at all. Lewis got up on the step ladder and did the installation. I talked
about how they need to make a plan for any fire emergency and explained how
important it is for the whole family to have a meeting place so that it is
clear that everyone is out of the house. They say you have only 2 minutes to
exit in safety. We also taught about earthquakes and advised that people get
low and be next to an interior wall if you cannot exit safely. I had to get
signatures and fill out information about the people living at that address in
case they needed additional help. They also have bed shakers available for
those who are deaf and cannot hear a fire alarm. It was an interesting morning
and I think we did some good today. Almost half of the people spoke Spanish and
it was very good to have Lewis able to talk with them.
We got back in time for Lewis to hear BYU losing the football game. I wrote out my Sacrament Meeting talk and translated it with Google. Lewis went over the translation and changed a few things. I need to pare it down a bit.
The sisters texted to see if we were coming to the English Connect class and we said yes. Then Lewis got a call from Presidente Parra at 6:20 pm. We had been invited to go to dinner at his home at 6:00 along with President and Sister Rodriguez, Hermano y Hermana Zurcher, and the Ponderosa Branch missionaries. Elder Nelson is leaving soon and President Parra wanted to thank everyone and ensure that we all had the same goals. He said he wants to align the branch’s goal with the goals of the mission as well as with the stake goals. There was a good discussion about what that meant and I understood most of it. All of the conversation was in Spanish. It was great to hear everyone speaking. I was able to understand much of it. What a privilege it is to be in groups who want to work together and make good things happen. I find that some people are much easier to understand than others.
Presidente. Parra had a video the family made of his father on his mission in 1961 in Oaxaca, Mexico. He heard a voice in the middle of the night tell him to get off the train. He woke up his companion and told him that they needed to immediately get dressed and get off the train. They got off at the next stop which was in the middle of nowhere. The spirit told him to walk in a certain direction and they went 17 miles to a little town. The two missionaries stayed on a small hill and sang hymns as loudly as they could. Eventually, some of the townspeople went up to talk with them. Over time they taught all of the people and most wanted to be baptized. They ordained an Elder and taught him how to be a leader. That area became a very strong branch and they were true pioneers in Mexico.
It turns out that Sister Parra, Brother Parra, President Rodriguez, and Hermano Zurcher are all closely connected. Their parents were long-time friends with each other. They have heard many stories about the parents of each other. It is a small world in the Church. The food was delicious. I just had a very small sampling since we had already eaten dinner. The people are wonderful and I’m so glad we did not miss out on this lovely experience. Thank you for calling us, Presidente Parra. We never got it on the calendar and forgot all about the invitation. They sent all of us on our way with a loaf of homemade banana bread.
Went to El Camino Real. Sister Soto (as a councilor in the
RS) was the speaker along with a high councilor. They both gave very good
talks. They had Sister Woolley translate from Spanish to English with
headphones for those who preferred to listen in English. The stake high
councilor and a couple of others took advantage of the headphones. Pepe was the teacher
for the investigators Sunday School class. There were about 4 or 5
investigators. Go missionaries.
In Ponderosa Branch it was looking pretty scant but more
people came in late. There was one woman there for the first time. She had a
granddaughter who was very cute and very curious. Sister Victoria Branch is amazingly
friendly and outgoing. She acted like they were old friends. Maybe they are.
The Stake RS president spoke at our meeting. Sister Branch translated for her.
She ended by reading her testimony in Spanish. Good for her. She was nervous
but did a good job. There was another high councilor as well. Our Sunday School
class began with everyone giving a short introduction of themselves. I muffed
it. Very frustrating that sometimes I cannot come up with words I know. Oh
well. We were challenged to find scriptures to answer the question about the relative importance of faith
vs works. It was a good discussion.
The Parrys invited us to come to their home at 6:00 for a
Parry Pie Party. It is a family tradition for them for many years. Those that
work in the office knew of this plan earlier and brought pies. We asked but
didn’t have time to make one after church and before the party. The Russells,
the Nixons, the Moons and the Parrys were all there as well as one missionary
who is staying there for just a couple of days. We had a fun time. They are a
lively group. Brother Parry is a former race car driver and worked with a club
that held races at the Bonneville Salt Flats in CA. They also went to He said that the fastest he has ever driven was 150 mph and it
wasn’t in a car he owned. He says that there is a design (shaped like a cigar
with the wheels tucked underneath) that can reach 500 mpg. Sister Russell is an
amazing woman with a lot of interesting stories. We remembered favorite songs
over the decades. I am obviously out of the know but had fun learning lots of
fun stories everyone was telling. Hope we didn’t scare the new missionary. The
pies were delicious and we ate sparingly but enjoyed every bite. And there was
candy for dessert. They want us to stay in the office on Tuesday from 9-3:00,
the Russells will be out of town and the rest of them will be in Thousand Oaks
for interviews and lunch and all the interviews for the missionaries.
Today is our 33rd Wedding Anniversary! The Santa Anas are back and there are leaves and branches flying all around us. We went to Winco and Costco to get the things we needed to make our contributions to Thanksgiving on Thursday. Lewis had his phone updated and couldn’t get into it this morning. He spent a lot of time on the phone with Apple. He ended up downloading everything on my phone and then modifying it. I had to fix several things but I think my phone will continue to work for me and hopefully all my connections will remain in place. So far, so good. We decided that we didn’t want to walk the Spanish Missions in this wind. We stayed home and listened to our mystery book. We ordered a veggie pizza and bought it home to enjoy as a celebration. Yummy. After 33 years we are very happy and look forward to being married to each other for forever. How blessed we are.
Went to the mission office at 8:45 and found the Russells working. They are flying to Oregon at 1:00 to welcome home a grandson. They haven’t seen him in several years and are closer to him here than from their home in Kentucky. She taught us how to process the mail and showed me where keys were that might be needed. The Parrys came in at about 10:00. Lewis agreed to sit at the reception desk so I could work on my computer. That put him in charge of the music which he likes. He left at lunchtime to get us Subway sandwiches. The Nixons got back at 2:30 or so. She made most of the lunch for the missionaries so she was tired. She asked if we had time to come tomorrow. We can so we will come again. She has company coming for Thanksgiving and needs some time to prepare. She has a cup of pumpkin pie and another one of a fruit cobbler. Lewis and I enjoyed the treats. I was able to do my computer stuff and add more photos to some blog posts. And I finished up my talk for Sunday. We went to the English Connect class with the Elders but no one showed up.
We went to the Mission Office on Wednesday and got there nice and early. Brother Nixon came in at about 10:00 and needed to take care of having the oil changed in the big transit van. President Rodriguez came to participate in a long Zoom meeting. Lewis answered the phone and sorted packages and letters. We will go with the Hermanas and visit with Yayo this evening.
|
Thanksgiving
is a time for gathering and gratitude. |
|
|
|
In his 2020 message about the
power of gratitude, President Russell M. Nelson said: “Over my nine and a
half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far
better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing
gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual
prescription. Does gratitude spare us from sorrow, sadness, grief and pain?
No, but it does soothe our feelings. It provides us with a greater
perspective on the very purpose and joy of life.” |
We made the Stuffing/Dressing and the fancy green beans. We also
brought pumpkin and apple pies and whipped cream. Emily is looking great. She
is planning on the surgery next Wednesday. She will talk with the radiologist
on Tuesday. She is feeling pretty settled that this surgery can conquer the
margin problem and make it OK to not do the radiation. Because she had so many
lymph nodes removed, she has to be careful of Lymphedema and must protect her
left arm. No IVs in that arm, etc. If you get it – it doesn’t go away. The
radiation makes Lymphedema more likely to surface in the future.
Omar, Iris, the two daughters and the two grandsons came to
join us. It is fun how Evan and Ella interact with Emily and Ired. Emily's twins
are four years old today. They were born on Thanksgiving. So perhaps every 4
years it will be on Thanksgiving Day again. They have fun together. The food
was delicious. Emily made my Mom’s orange rolls that were as light as a
feather. She also makes a salad with lots of ingredients including bacon bits
that everyone loves. The turkey looked pretty enough for a picture. I didn’t eat any because everything else was
so good. Iris said she liked the stuffing and usually she doesn’t enjoy it. She
brought mashed potatoes with bacon bits and yellow and some other things added
in. Very good. She also made a green spaghetti dish that we loved. It is made
with serrano peppers and sour cream plus more things. Spicy and tasty. Most
people took some green beans. I thought the sliced almonds were a nice addition
as well as the miso and lemon juice We all got plenty of wonderful food and enjoyed
it all. We had to wait a bit for dessert because our tummies were full. Emily
made a cheesecake for Emmett as well as the rest of us and we had three
different pies. I tried a pecan pie for the first time and it was delicious. We
all played games and a Minion movie was happening in the living room. Omar,
Emily, Lewis, and I played Rummy Cubes and had fun. Then we played dominoes.
Iris and the kids played some other games. It was a day that reminded us to be
grateful for all of our blessings. I took some copies of Favorites to fill out
and a list of fun questions to consider and to remind us of family stories.
They took some home to work on their family history by filling them out. It was
a lovely day.
We gave our talks in the El Camino Real Ward on November 26th. Lewis gave a great talk with a personal example of the rewards of living the law of tithing. I got through my talk just fine. But I am not comfortable yet. We learn that Peggy Snyder has cancer again. Lewis was so annoyed by his keyboard that we bought one that was familiar. Life improved. I put some more things up on Collectionaire. President Parra and his wife took both the missionary companionship and us to dinner at Boulevard Burgers. It was fun and we had time to talk about goals and expectations. He wanted to know what President Rodriguez's goals were and how could the branch help us to be successful. It was great to see that President Parra wants to follow the Stake President and the Mission President and work with them to do the will of the Lord. We all need to follow true leaders.
Went to Emily’s house. She was up and eating. She is
uncomfortable but doing pretty well. She needs to keep her elbows down. So she
will just have little T-Rex arms for a month. We did laundry and I swept the
floors. I made their favorite soup, Chup. Busy household when the kids get
home. They are selling more and delivering the already-purchased poinsettias
tonight. Evan is delivering. Ella is going to accompany him. Emmett and Edgar
are selling in front of a store. We brought home one for our apartment. It is
lovely and bigger than I thought it would be. Merry Christmas is coming.
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