Greetings from Bakersfield California! I sure seem to get around. In the last year, I’ve lived on the far east coast and the far west coast. I’ve been a recluse and now I talk to a couple hundred people a day… if I’m lucky!
Selling Pest Control is the most challenging, unrewarding, miserable, exhausting, discouraging, and trying job (if you can put it in one word) that I’ve ever and I’m sure will ever do. I knock upwards 200-300 doors a day, I talk to about 40% of those doors, and I sell 0-2 accounts per day. I have had one day of 4, and one day of 5. We sell 6 days a week, 5-7 hours a day, and walk in triple digit temperatures. This is not a fun job. All this being said, I truly believe it’s one of the best choices I’ve ever made (And if I keep telling myself that, I might start to believe it)!
We don’t often get to see the far reaching effects of a simple choice. The consequences, good and bad, are not always apparent. I think that’s what we call acting on faith. In August 2008 I got a job at IHOP, I was a hostess/expo “artist”, the pay was minimum, and the hours were Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. I wasn’t appreciated and I was missing church. In October, I applied at a new ice cream store in the mall on a whim, and didn’t really think much of it. In November, I decided I wanted to be able to attend church with my family again, and I started looking for a new job. Within days I was called in for an interview and hired at Sub Zero. I can’t even count all the blessings I’ve received from knowing and working for Royal. It was there I met Shiloh Logan. We worked together just a few times over the last year and a half or so. I took a nanny job and moved across the country, grew as an individual, spent lots of wonderful time with the Bybee-Holdaways, and decided to move home in December. In March, I was invited to California as part of the sales team for Oxley’s Pest Control.
Preparing to come out here, I started e-mailing one of my soon to be roommates, Vanessa Johnson. We became friends on facebook, and it was shortly after that she e-mailed me and asked if my mom served a mission to Mexico, and if she’d had the nickname ‘point-dexter’. It was bizarre but I asked, and it was true. Turns out her mother is Nancy Santa-Anna, who met mom in the MTC, became fast friends, and were eventually bridesmaids at one another’s weddings! CRAZY! We’ve also become close friends, and I had the fortune of spending the 4th of July weekend in L.A. meeting her mom, grandma, and brother. I had a wonderful time, ate some home-cooked Cuban food, drove down PCH to Laguna Beach, watched fireworks and more!
The people I have the pleasure of living and working with are mostly what make this summer not only bearable, but worth it! Shiloh is in his last year at BYU this fall. He is majoring in Philosophy and is a strong advocate for righteous government, and true principles of freedom. Listening to him, I only wish I were a sponge or had far superior memory to absorb more. His wife Rachel is one of my heroes! She is now 5 days past due on their fourth child, the oldest being 4 years old. She is an incredible wife and mother. Having heard some of her testimony of faith and trust in the Lord has strengthened my own. I love their kids and swim with them often. I can’t wait to meet the new baby, when she decides to meet the world!
Dave Oxley is a remarkable human being! He is truly watching out for us as his sales team. He has made a huge investment in us, and I hope I can return the kindness with increased accounts. He keeps our spirits up, treating us to dinner when we meet our weekly quotas, and barbequing at his home. He prays often with us, asking for protection and blessings on our behalf, and thanking the Lord for our successes. What a wonderful example of faith outside our church!
I’m not exaggerating when I say I couldn’t make it without my roommates! Vanessa and Marissa are a constant support team! We live the same schedule, work the same hours, feel all the same pressures and stresses, and joy when we each succeed. I think I wouldn’t have made it this long without them. Being younger by a couple years hasn’t made much difference. It’s noticeable when I don’t know the same music, and am naïve to references that were just a few years before my time. They are so patient with me, have taught me so much about loving everyone, reserving judgments, and being a better person. I’m indebted to them for that!
Some lessons I’ve learned: Mexicans and African Americans are the nicest ethnicities. You can tell ethnicity based on the landscaping and laundry smell of homes. People love their pets more than their kids. I will never ever own a Chihuahua!!!!! When I do own a dog, it will be BIG and I will train that dog so well! I will be kind to solicitors regardless of their product and I will not have a steeped yard. I will most certainly choose living in a lower class area and teach my children to be kind and welcoming, over living in the upper class and not teaching my children kindness. 5 hour energy drinks are inspired by God! I’ve learned to open my mind, and not care who belongs to what religion. I understand now that we are all God’s children, and that’s all.
I’m sitting here trying to sum everything up, and there is just too much! I’m planning a trip to Disneyland next weekend for Vanessa’s birthday, a trip to San Diego to meet the sales team that her brother is working for,(coincidently one of the owner’s of that company is Royal’s older brother) and then return to start school in the fall. I plan to take Spanish with Peter at UVU, and maybe another class. More than likely I’ll be late getting back, so I’ll do some independent study through BYU to start my generals. I won’t have money for the vehicle I wanted to purchase, so I’m choosing school first, and I’ll everything will work out.
I hope I haven’t exhausted the reader! I know I won’t make nearly the kind of money I’d expected or talked about, and I just wanted to share how the experience has been priceless and I wouldn’t trade the memories or lessons or testimony building for any amount of money. I don’t plan to write nearly as much next edition, I just couldn’t cut this short! I love my family and I’m happy and grateful that I can share this experience with you! If you’re in the Bakersfield area before Augusts end, look me up! Happy summer everyone!
