It has been a quiet two weeks since I blogged last  and I didn't have anything new to write about.  However, this week it are zone conferences which is divided up into 4 days.  Yesterday, Tuesday, November 19th was the first one, and we did zones 2 and 3 at the Ventura Stake Center.  Because we have to make sure that the mission office remains open, Sister Truman stayed at the office yesterday and I went.  We had 26 cars that had to be inspected while the missionaries were in the Stake Center - so Elder Truman, Elder Ruse, the Castro children - Hannah and Samuel and myself inspected all of the cars.  Then at lunch time, we ate lunch with the missionaries, and awarded those who had the cleanest cars.  As it turned out, the sister missionaries had the cleanest cars!  Then Elder Ruse had to do his vehicle and bike safety presentation. The Stakes are asked to provide the lunch - the mission gives them $3.50/per missionary to spend and apparently, it is interesting what they feed them - but we are grateful for the help from the Stakes.  

One of the elders left his key in the ignition of his car in the on position and when we were locking all of the cars up, his car was dead - so we had to go back to the mission office and get the jumper cables and jump that car before we were done.  Then last night, we had a call about 7:30 that one of the sets of sister missionaries lost their key and the only one they had was locked in the car.  The assistants to the President found a spare key back at the office and were able to help them so that they could get on the road.

Today, the zone conference is in Santa Maria at he Stake Center - which is about 2 hours away.  Tomorrow it is in Simi Valley, and then Friday in Camarillo.

The weather is always the same here.  In fact, I would look at the weather everyday in the morning to determine what I should wear - but I'm not going to do that anymore - because it is always the same.

Last weekend, Jana and Bill came to see us on Saturday and spent the day.  It was great as I was very homesick the prior few days.  They had perfect timing which made me wonder if one of the girls told Jana that I was feeling "blue".  If they did - I thank them.  That was a long drive for them because they had to do it again on Sunday for Barry's memorial at the Mt. Sinai cemetery.  However, on Saturday, we went to see the movie Gravity, and then walked around the shops by the theatre in Camarillo.  It was very nice and lots of expensive shops!  We also went down to the fish restaurant that we ate at the first day we arrived in Oxnard.  As it turns out, it is a favorite of Bills.

Then On Sunday after sacrament meeting, we drove to Mt. Sinai for the memorial for Barry.  Here are some pictures of the unveiling of his headstone.  It is beautiful. 

Yesterday, we took a dresser to some missionaries in Simi Valley who needed another one and so we went to President Reagan's Library - which was very interesting.  Here is a jet fighter that they had there.  We also toured his Air Force One - but couldn't take pictures of that.  I think they said that 7 presidents used that Air Force One.  It was very, very interesting and in a beautiful location. They said that President Obama's Air Force one is much bigger because it is a 747.

 

Here is Elder Ruse at the edge of the property of the Reagan Library - overlooking Simi Valley.  When my parents first arrived in Southern California, we looked at homes out here to live in so that my dad didn't have to drive so far.  He always worked around the LA airport.  However, homes in 1967 were selling here for $27,000 and our mother didn't want to just make house payments, so we ended up in Riverside and they paid $20,000.

 

Here is the memorial for President Reagan

We took a picture of this field across the street from us as they are getting ready to plant strawberries.  We are going to take pictures now at the different stages of this field.  We are so memorized by the fields and how hard the workers work in them.  There are fields all around us and we love watching the various stages of the plants.

 

This is the field next to the one above and you can see the pickers out there.  Not too many there - but it was Sunday morning.  On the other days, the fields are full of workers with their colorful jackets bent over doing the work.  I don't know how they stand up when the day is over.

 

Here are pictures we took this morning of the boats and houses across the street from us.  So, on one side are the fields, and then other the other side are the houses and boats.  We can't decide which house and boat to buy (chuckle, chuckle) - so we are showing all of the pictures:

 

 

 

 

Which one do you like?