First off, I've not been working in Taft for most of this week. I went on
an exchange with the Zone Leader Elder Gigena on Tuesday, we spent most
of Wednesday and Thursday in the apartment because Elder Buckmiller was sick,
and then on Saturday with Elder Shurtz. It was cool though, because we were on
bikes on Saturday! Whoo! That was really super fun, although I feared for my
life almost the whole way. I'm not the best biker, and the drivers in
Bakersfield are almost as bad as the ones in Georgia.
Also, I'm
definitely feeling it now; I hafta sit kinda funky on my seat. 
Some cool
things happened out there though. The highlight was probably when we were
riding down the road, a van drove by that was painted with a bunch of "religious
excitement" graffiti, and there was a man in there shouting out to the people to
come on down to some religious get together or something. As we rode past he
shouted out; "And the boys in the white shirts! Come on out to blah blah
blah..." MAN I wanted to go SO BAD! We were both excited for it but wound up
on the other side of town at the time it was happening, so we didn't have the
chance. It'd have been cool to get up and "soapbox it" though.
In other news; Elder Buckmiller and I are hyper excited for this week,
because Jose's going to be baptized on the ninth, and Cami and Josh are both
going to be baptized on the tenth! Whoo! Jose's been an absolute BOSS about
this all. Last week he went out to the Temple with the youth, even though he
couldn't enter, and he spent five hours in the visitors center, and said he
loved it! He couldn't get over how good it felt and how awesome it was. He's
gonna be an AWESOME missionary here soon. 
Cami and
Josh are doing excellent as well. Josh has really opened up a lot, and is truly
growing in his own personal testimony in a very cool way. Cami's been doing
really well too.
As far as Tana (Josh's mom) goes, she's kinda progressing off and on. She
really struggles, and if she hears anything that doesn't fall right RIGHT AWAY,
she takes it wrong and goes off about it. But after we explain what it was
she's miss-understanding, she relaxes and gets it. We're... workin on it. 
Another highlight of the week was when our whole district, (minus me, cause
I didn't know.) came to district meeting with their hair all gelled up like
Elder Buckmiller does! It was hilarious Then, about halfway through the
meeting, (as they're all sitting there exactly like Elder Buckmiller would) they
all whip out a pen and stick it behind their right ear, which is where Elder
Buckmiller keeps his. It was really funny, but most of all, it was cool to see
them having fun with and supporting Elder Buckmiller. Especially since being so
far away; it's hard to tell if they feel his support and care, and vice
versa.
So, I just want you all to know I love you. I know you're all doing
awesome; make sure you let each other know that! Relax a bit when you don't
feel like it, work a lot when you definitely don't, and make sure you're helping
out those missionaries! (feed us, laugh at us, and most of all, teach strangers
for us and then let us know!)
Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough 
