Letter from Mom & Dad September 30, 2010

It is 5 am and things are getting noisy here as everyone is arriving and getting their equipment started. Harvest is going strong so most of these guys put in long hours. Mechanics work all night sometimes to keep all the trucks ready for the next day. After the last shift on Saturday they shut everything down and turn the huller off. The huller is the big tank that the almonds go into to shuck off the outside husk. It runs 24 hours a day and makes a lot of noise so when it goes off from Sunday morning at 6am till Monday morning at 6am it is so quiet here that it is spooky. I have a hard time sleeping on Sunday night!

From the huller, the shells and husks are conveyed along these huge white pipes in the air and they fall out holes, one of the pipes has holes for the husks and another pipe is holes for the smaller ground for feed. When the pile reaches the top the shells move on to the next hole and so forth. This makes huge piles of shells. Farms and ranches purchase this byproduct. They grind the outside husks for cattle feed and buy the inside shell for bedding in their pens. Nothing is wasted here. I will attach a picture of the huller, the pipe lines filling, and a picture of Dad next to mounds of almonds.

As they bring in the trucks from the orchards they have to be weighed on these big truck scales and recorded. Then they are taken out behind the plant into these big fields and dumped in piles. When the pile gets so big they cover them with white plastic and fumigate under them to keep things safe until they can be transferred to the hullers to begin processing. As the harvest moves along the back fields gets full of acres and acres of big white mounds. This week we went out on the pistachio harvest. I’ll tell you about that next week.

It has been a busy week with scouts, feeding missionaries, etc. Friday night we had a ward general conference bingo party. We met and talked about all the things relating to conference and then played bingo using questions from conference related things. It was a lot of fun. Everyone brought either a dessert or appetizer. These people love to get together and eat!!

Saturday night we had a baptism of a young girl (16) and then I drove a group of ladies to Bakersfield to watch the Women’s conference. What a wonderful conference. Hope you were all able to go or watch it later. Monday night we went to the Browning’s for Family Home Evening. They are such neat people.
Tuesday Sister Browning and I spent the day in Bakersfield shopping and running errands. Got home just in time to get things ready for scouts. Yesterday was the monthly South Valley Wives club cooking meeting. The topic was cranberries. We sampled lots of wonderful things! We have our monthly meeting with the general manager of this farm in a few hours and then we are planning to leave around 1pm for San Diego.

This weekend is the big air show at Miramar and on Friday it is just for the military so Corey is taking the day off and we will play! Then we will stay there and watch conference and Dad and Corey will get to go to Priesthood session together. How he wishes that you could be here too, Jason. It’s been too many years since he has gone with his boys. He is also missing going with the grandsons. That has been so wonderful. Hopefully all of the Utah group will be together and Jason and Brandon. Some year we need to have us all together for conference!

We will leave San Diego early Monday morning and drive up the coast to Ventura to pick up some handcart wheels we left there a month ago and then on back to Wasco. Can hardly wait to get on the road today!
Dad has been working hard to finish the home they are on now so that next week we can get back to our two homes here on site. Last night when he got home he was all white. They had rolled and sprayed the rooms and all the doors. They wore those white bunny suits, stocking head coverings and safety glasses and foot coverings. Looked like Martians, only white! Hey Jason—Maybe they were the Marshmallow men!! Still he managed to get paint all over his hands and face, even stuck to his eyelashes.

We have been watching the series On Sacred Ground with Truman Madsen. It is his reflections of the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. We have been using that for our study time together. Much of the Prophet Joseph’s influence has been brief encounters with people where he has shown love and concern for them as individuals. Much of our missionary experiences, and your daily encounters are one on one with individuals where we can also show love and concern. So each one of you have the opportunity to influence for good daily the people you come in contact with just by the way you are living your lives. The work of our Heavenly Father mostly comes in small ways as we connect and change hearts.

We love you and stand in awe of who you really are!! Honor bright!!
Mom & Dad

Missionary Letter from Mom & Dad September 22, 2010

Letter from Mom and Dad

Good morning from South Valley Farms—things are busy, busy here as usual. Dad and Elder Browning finished up the renovating on one of the homes so that a family could move in last Saturday. I went in and cleaned the home and shampooed the old carpets. I went back the next day and washed the windows. Elder Browning said not to, that they could do their own but they were really dirty and it is a single dad with 2 children moving in. I told him that “Windows are the soul of the home” and I wanted it to be beautiful! I don’t think he bought it but oh well maybe one of his trials on his mission is ME!!

On Thursday afternoon Dad got an intestinal blockage and was in tough shape until everything released late Friday night. So we had a quiet weekend and took things pretty easy. He is feeling back to normal now. He hasn’t had any problems with blockages for over a year now so this was a surprise. As always they are terribly painful and made for some tough hours and days. We are so thankful that everything is fine now as we have finally gotten through the paper work to get set up with the VA here in Bakersfield. His first appointment is not until the end of October. Bakersfield only has a VA clinic and for emergencies we have to go quite a distance to a care center. Haven't figured that one out yet so hopefully we won’t need to go there.

We have been renovating a home; new doors, carpets, paint, electrical for someone who needs to be in as soon as possible so we are still not able to get back to work on our house and the duplex yet.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to drive the missionaries to Ventura for transfers. We lived in that area 44 years ago when Dad was stationed at Port Hueneme Naval Base so it was fun to see the ocean again. We got to attend the Mission Meeting with all of the Elders and Mission President Murri. The whole lawn of the chapel was filled with luggage and things, lots of bicycles. We were kidding the Elders that each pile of stuff had a Gold's Gyms bar for pull ups in their pile. I guess that is a popular exercise piece for keeping Elders BUFF!!

The meeting was wonderful as the 11 missionaries who were going home bore their testimonies and the newly arrived were assigned to their trainers. Lots of singing—of course rousing strains of Called to Serve. When they announced that they wanted them to sing We are as the Armies of Helaman it was so cute to watch their faces as they tried to remember the words. As I watched their faces I could almost see their minds racing back to Primary, frantically trying to remember what came next. ( So my wonderful “15”, pay attention to all the music you are being taught. You will be using it forever!!) We picked up our new Elder and took him and Elder Ray out to lunch and then got back here just in time to get ready for Cub Scouts last night. You should see how cute your Dad looks in his uniform. ( I’ll take a picture next week and send it)

Harvest is going great here. We live in a mass of dust as everything is in motion. Once a week I go to the carwash and by the time I get back here I’m covered in a film of sand. But at least the mud is gone for a few days. I am looking forward to Women’s Conference this weekend. Mindy is singing in the choir so watch for her. We are planning to go to San Diego next Thursday to watch General Conference with Corey, Sarah and the children. It is so great to be able to see them more often. Wish that I could just “beam” you all out here to be together. Maybe someday that will be a normal thing!! I’ve attached pictures from our trip yesterday. One is of Elder Kay who left us. He reminds of so much of Jacob and the other is of an incredible tree that grows here. ENORMOUS!! (the tree—not me! Next to it I feel tiny!)

We love the work! This is a great time in my life to be able to study and read the scriptures. How I Love the prophets who wrote for our day that we might be able to withstand the evil that does surround us and will get worse. What hope and peace they bring as they testify of the Savior, and of each of you, and the important role you have to be part of this last dispensation that is preparing to welcome Him. May you each come to realize how much Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ love you and are aware of and are more involved in your daily lives then you can imagine.

We love you—HONOR BRIGHT! Mom & Dad

Home in Wasco

Trip to San Diego

Letter from Mom

It is harvest time so things are crazy here. Work for the regular crews begins very early and goes late at the plant. We have 20,000 acres of farm that is spread out over the area. A lot of the big machines are placed here and so it’s noisy and dusty as things get reved up each day. Sometimes I feel like we are living on Luke Skywalker’s planet with scores of Droids. The harvesting machines are “funky” looking. I love it when they come home at night all in a row like ducks, especially the shakers which are tiny and yellow! It is such an amazing process that takes place to plant, harvest and process all these almonds. Then they are shipped out to China, Japan and some other European countries. We began the pistachio harvest this week and that is done a little differently. Pistachios grow in clusters like grapes and can’t be dropped on the ground like the almonds. The shakers that shake the nuts off are equipped with things that look like butterfly wings so when the machine shakes the trees the nuts fall into big nets and then are conveyed into trailers. Sister Browning has written a paper on the whole process that I will send to you as soon as I can get a copy.

Dad is very busy renovating 2 homes that are needed for employees. He has done a variety of things from gutting ceilings to replace roof beams, sheet rocking, mudding, painting, replacing floor joists, putting in glass shower and tub surrounds, replacing pocket doors(11 on one of the homes) with regular doors, staining all of them, replacing spanish tiles on the steps of the home and making lots of trips to Home Depot and Lowe’s. Yesterday when I went to with him to Home Depot the man there said “How are the projects coming along? He told me that that man has helped him at all of the Home Depots he uses as the employees rotate between stores. Your Dad goes into a store with the plan to ask for help so that he can become very visible to people. That often leads to a discussion of who we are and what we are doing.

We are busy getting to know what to do in cub scouts. We are the Webelos leaders but our dens are so small that we meet together. We pick up boys and take them home so Tuesday nights are pretty crazy. This week we began making stilts with them. We are meeting in the park in Shafter , about 7 miles from here until the weather gets too cold. Then we will move to the chapel in Wasco. They are really great kids. We have a few that are not members but want to be scouts. This week one of their Dads came and helped.

Last Saturday was the big “Make a blanket Day” for Project Linus. Sister Browning and I drove to the stake Center in Bakersfield, about 25 miles away. It was an incredible day. The whole cultural hall was filled with people, lots of groups from the community. I was amazed at the number of families and men that came. They had stacks of quilts that were already put together and bound. People sat around the tables and tied them. There were women with sewing machines that sewed labels on them. Each group or ward that came brought the ones they had done at home. We delivered 8 fleece blankets, 5 tied quilts, and the afghan that I crocheted this month. I spent most of the day in the crocheting corner and learned some new stitches. Our group made hundreds of granny squares and others connected them to make afghans. The Elders and sisters in the Bakersfield area came and worked there also. It was fun to teach the Elders how to crochet! Some of them had the job to pin a tag on each blanket that has a beautiful poem. I got to meet some really neat people from the community. This project is so overwhelming; so many wonderful things are done for children and adults in Trauma situations. They are national so I you are looking for a service project, check out Project Linus on the internet.
Our next community day is in February so we will be working on new donations for that in the ward. I have started a new afghan. I will be joining a group that meets on the 3rd Tuesday each month to work on projects and visit. I am still trying to come up with a plan to hold English classes for employees at the plant. They only have a short time and the materials that I have here are all outdated. I really need to create a class in conversational English to help them feel better about daily communication at work and in the stores around town. If you have any ideas please send them!!

We were able to go to the Fresno Temple a few weeks ago. Wonderful day! We spent 2 days wonderful with Corey and Sarah and the kids in San Diego for Madison’s birthday and will be going there for General Conference weekend.
We feed the missionaries and work hard, and also have fun. This is a great time in our lives!!

We miss you all and hope you know that we pray daily for you all that you will be blessed with safety and strength but mostly that you will have experiences that will grow your testimonies and bring you to the Savior. As I read, study and serve I am so moved by the Gospel plan that Heavenly Father has given to us to help us grow and learn. It is not always easy, it never was meant to be, but as we seek his help in ALL things he will bless us and strengthen us. He knows each one of us individually, loves us beyond our belief, and stands ready to bring us home to him if we will but let him. The Gospel plan is so simple—we tend to complicate it . I want you to Know that we know this to be true.

With all our love, Mom (grandma)

Greetings from Sunny California!

Greetings from Sunny California! ( lots of days in 100’s) We are happy and loving this time in our lives. It is much different than we thought it would be. Companionship study comes at odd times of the day as the work day begins early for Dad.

After he leaves I do all the usual chores and then get my personal study time in while doing laundry. I have to take my laundry to different places. Sometimes it is at the local laundremat (roach haven!) Right now we have a washer and dryer hooked up in one of the homes that we are renovating. All things that need to be air dried I hang in the back seat of the truck and the hot air drys them very quickly.

Dad puts in long hours—misses the naps that he got used to when he retired! I spend my days doing volunteer work and service hours. Right now a lot of time is spent making quilts and crocheting afghans for Project Linus. That is a community group that donates these items to the hospitals and shelters for children and teens. I am heading the project for our ward.

Once a month Sister Browning and I fix a dessert for the birthdays of that month at the plant. Dad and I have the full time elders over for dinner every other week and last week Elder and Sister Browning and our site leader prepared meals for 40 men who flew in from all over the world for a training seminar here at the farm.

Last night we had scouts . (Dad & I are Webelos leaders) I also run errands for the office. Trips into Bakersfield where I get to shop. Here in Wasco my shopping is limited to K-mart and the dollar tree so I love being sent on errands. Yesterday I discovered that Bakersfield has a Beehive Bookstore (LDS things). I was in Bakersfield yesterday to drive with some other sisters to the monthly “Seniors Luncheon”. You can stop laughing now—or maybe that’s not funny to you! When did I get to be someone who goes to seniors luncheons? They are put on by different stakes in Bakersfield and they have a program and serve lunch. All very good until they serve you your plate and then want to help you put condiment on your sandwich or cut things for you!

The Brownings are from Layton, Utah and are such choice people. They are in their 70’s and have served a regular mission to the Phillipines 5 years ago. Elder Browning reminds me of Grandpa Lee in looks and also in his stubbornness. It’s a good thing that your dad is so patient, though sometimes its tough. We have great fun with them going out to dinner, and getting together for Family night on Mondays and last Friday night we had a movie night out in their back yard.

We are meeting so many wonderful, humble people here. Everyday I am so thankful for this experience. There is so much to tell you about this place and the people but can’t do it all at once. We love you all and miss you so much.

I am sorry that it took so long to get our first letter out. The only internet connection I can get here is at the plant and that’s only if I can get there before everyone gets in and find a place to hook up. The local library has internet but they open for a few hours on random days. Once we get our home built we will have access there which will be wonderful. In the mean time thanks to Kendra I hope this will work. I shall attempt to attach a few photos also. Who Knows—maybe it will even work !

LOVE YA GUTS!!
Mom