The poo pourri is the most amazing thing on the planet!

First of all, I absolutely loved loved loved talking to you guys! Seriously, it was so refreshing to hear voices and to laugh with you. I miss laughing with you. I was so pleased with every minute of that phone call... cloud nine may be a good way to describe it!

 You know how I told you that I was going to go have an egg mcmuffin with everyone in the house after I got done talking to you? Well I did, and one of the oldies in the house said, "Sister Barfuss you looked like a CEO out there pacing back and forth!!" Haha! I forgot that when I'm on the phone for a while I always have to walk around. I'm not very good at holding still now and days :) haha Oh guess what!? The guy I'm talking about (the old fogey) is the famous Covey's brother in law! Remember how I went to Steven R Covey's house with Meg and Nate one time? Haha! #smallworld

The poo pourri is the most amazing thing on the planet! I'm not even joking right now! It works so well!! I am still shocked every single time! You all need to buy some and give it a whirl. It will change your life! How much did you pay for that!? Hahaha! Katelyn you are so stinkin funny :) you know me too well!

Fun fact time!

1. This week I ate chicken gizzards with a Brazilian family. I didn't know they were gizzards until after the meal :) haha

2.  In the past month I have had ham, corn, and potatoes 11 times. All at different houses.

3. I got the hiccups for the first time on my mission. "Have you ever *hiccup* heard of Joseph *hiccup* Smith?"

4. I for realsies almost hit a dog, a skunk, and a peacock this week. I am not even kidding in the slightest.

5. This Sunday I gave the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting and then taught gospel principles.

6. Sister Bauro and I went to a "Kiribati Party" the day after Christmas! There were 6 Kiribatians there and 1 white girl. It was awesome. I understood nothing.

7. Sister Bauro's dad is out of the hospital and doing great! 

So the other day Sister Bauro and I put on some service clothes and I looked at her shirt and I said "Is that a beer shirt?" because there was some foreign word on it and then something that looked like beer to me. She told me that it was Fijian word and that it was a lemonade drink, not beer. So I moved on. Well later that day we were with the Martin's and Sister Martin said, "Is that a beer shirt!!??" Sister Martin typed the word into good translate and BOOM!! it was an Irish word that meant "cheers!" And yes, there was beer on her shirt! The Martins and I laughed and laughed and laughed. They bought her a new Tshirt and hopefully she threw the other one away. 

Okay here is some bad but good news... Grandpa Ted fell again and hit his head really hard. They took him to the hospital and they ended up finding that he has cancer all over his colon. He came home two nights ago and he has stopped eating and rarely goes to the bathroom. They said he only has maximum 6 weeks. So we went over and talked with him and took some last pictures together :/ it was sad. They haven't told Grandpa that he only has that long yet, but that's coming soon. Prayers for Grandpa Ted. Missions really take your heart out and stomp on it and wring it out. The up side to all of this is that we taught Grandpa Ted the plan of salvation about two months ago and he was baptized on Thanksgiving! So he is prepared to continue his journey to eternal life. What a blessing to have the knowledge he does! Here is my favorite memory of him that I'll never forget! Every time we came over he would be sitting in his chair watching TV... I would ask him "How are you feeling grandpa!?" he would always say "Awful..... awful good!!" And he would laugh every single time!  :) Haha! I love him.

Alrighty! The new year is upon us and I wish I had some super cool inspiring thing to say right now, but I think my cousin (Tanner) that's on a mission summed it up pretty well in his email. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." :) Don't you love that!? I did! I'll let you know what my goals for 2014 are in my email next week, I'm still working on them a little

. PLEASE tell me what yours are! 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE :) 

 thank you. love you.

i love you so much. so so much.

sister barfuss

Let Him in. He is right there waiting!

Let Him in. He is right there waiting!

 (sorry - I don't have permission to post the investigators faces :)

YES we got the box! Oh my lanta mom you are THE BEST!!! Stockings! Ginger snaps!! President Eyring books! A sock monkey! A santa hat and antlers! AND PRESENTS FOR BOTH OF US!!!!??? :D :D YESSS!!! Here's what we've opened so far...

1. ctr rings... and my PAM ring (Filipino CTR Ring) thank you! thank you!

2. the mac and cheese chapstick and pizza. hahahahhaha! it TOTALLY smells like mac and cheese!

3. the febreeze!! and the cracker jacks and america wipes! i forgot that i liked febreeze! seriously though! you guys know me so well :)

4. mormon ads, strength for youth, and STAMPS!!!! what? -  Harry Potter AND Disney! seriously though you guys rock!!

5. Candy and the Idaho Necklace!!! it's so cute! and the heart is over Pocatello! :) ahhhhhh!

cheers to the rest of the 12 days!!!

Today is my 8 month mark peoples... that is craaaaazy. So our computers got jacked by some other missionaries,so my time is a little limited. Here we go!

Fun Facts:

1. I got a Christmas card from the Summers :) i love them!

2. Thanks to your prayers and lots of good advice, I am proud to say that I am down to only 1 or 2 headaches a week!!!! That is amazing. Truly amazing. During this whole process Heavenly Father has also taught me about how I need to treat my body better (Elder Scott's conference talk anyone!??) and my diet has changed and my time focused on treating my body well has gone up. I believe I was "snatched" (see Mosiah 27:28) by Heavenly Father and now I have some great habits going!

3. We found a LA from Sister Bauro's country and she fed us dinner! I ate so many things I have NEVER had before, like milk fish, kale, purple yams, and real coconut.Yummah lummah in my tummah.

4. I walked into the bathroom and there was 8 inches of hair in the trash can. Turns out Sister Bauro was ready for a change! She had me do a few touch ups after she cut it!

5. I met someone from Rupert this week! Idahooooooooo... Idaaaahooooooooooo!!!

6. We helped a potential investigator this week with her garage sale. We had to be there at 6:45. Good thing we get up at 6:30 everyday! Haha! It was super cold... good thing they had coffee there for everyone.... BOINK!

7. I am sad to say this, but I officially can spot a drunk person by the smell of their breath. Alcohol smells SOOOOO bad. Oh my lanta that stuff is rank. But knowing what it smells like has helped me identify who is interested and who is being friendly only because they are drunk.... BOINK!

8. There is a shop nearby called "Shakira's pastry and bakery." Hahahahaha! Moo will get a kick out of that one :) hehe

9. We visited an older woman who has some memory issues and she told us stories about how she used to play with President Monson when she was a little girl in SLC. I was kind of believing her... but then she said that she used to play with Shirley Temple too.... BOINK!

10. Grandpa Ted is back and just moving slow now. We think he will be able to get back to his normal self in a few weeks! What a blessing!

This week we were teaching a LA woman in her living room and all the sudden 3 policeman came in the front door with a flash light and they said, "Where is Mike?!!" The woman we were teaching got up real fast and took them to the back room where he was (we didn't know he was there) and they said, "It's the Sheriff,  Mike! Come out immediately!" He didn't come out very quickly, so they sent one cop to stand outside his window just in case he tried to run! Eventually he came out and swore a whole bunch and asked why they wanted him. Turns out that he had a warrant out for him. The handcuffed him and took him out the back door so the kids couldn't see him, and then the lady we were teaching came and sat back down and said, "Sorry about that." UHHHHHHHHHH................. At one point one policeman turned to us and said"Hello ladies." We just sat there the whole time thinking "what in the good gracious do we do right now? Are we safe??" That was pretty crazy. He's in jail now. 

Okay it's official, Christ is our Savior. He really did pay the price for my sins and for yours.

 Let Him in. He is right there waiting.

I love you!

sister barfuss :)

ps- i LOVED the quote you sent mamas. i'm really learning a lot about obedience and self mastery recently. you are a TERRIFIC example of that. and just so you know, today i talked with a member about sleep overs and she begged me to never let my children go to them ever. i told her that you had that rule for us growing up and she said "your mother is divine. be so grateful you were honored enough to have her as YOUR mom." so with that being said :) i love you mom. thank you for taking the time to email me even when you were super tired and worn out. thank you for teaching me the piano too.i practiced for 20 minutes today! :D "scatter sunshine" and "called to serve"

NEWS FLASH: I still get super car sick in the back seat.

Sis. Barfuss and Sis. McKee! (from Pocatello)

Beautiful Christmas Lights at the San Diego Temple

(A wonderful thought for all the Missionaries out there!!)

"On this Christmas I send my love to every missionary, every man or woman in the military, every student, and every employee and traveler who won't 'be home for Christmas,' as the carol says. Keep your faith. Look for the good in your situation. Do something kind for someone. Seek Christ devoid of wrapping and tinsel. You will find that despite external circumstances, Christmas, like the kingdom of God, is 'within you.'"

--Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Christmas within You", December 2012 Ensign

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

First of all... did everyone see Katelyn on page 77 on the December Ensign!? Hahaha! I did! (apparently she  thinks Katelyn resembles this pic) Basically this week it finally got cold. Crazy, I know! But for reals, it's only like 39 when we exercise in the morning, so now I finally feel like it's Fall :) haha! We had some frost and such.

Thank you for the update on Sarahr... I love her so much. Sarah would always say "WHO ARE YOU!!??" When I would hang out with Kyle in the seminary building (she had a crush on him haha).

Christmas questions and answers: I get 40 minutes on the phone on Christmas day. So let me know what time is best to call... we're pretty open :) haha! A family invited us over for dinner that day. That was VERY nice of them! Thanks for sending me things and making me feel happy :) Sister Bauro gets to Skype because she's a foreign missionary. Her dad is owns a grocery store, she is an only child, and she didn't finish high school. So basically she and I are complete opposites in virtually all things, but our service to the Lord, that's all that counts right!?

Sounds like you and moomoo and papas are pretty darn busy! It feels nice to not be in the hustle and bustle. I have an new zone leader and he is one of the only missionaries in our zone that was here last Christmas (so many of the missionaries are new!) and he said that if you are homesick, you need to dive deeper into the work. Isn't that the truth!? So here is how I am diving deeper... I'm keeping the speed limit Hahaha! Here's the story... an elder in my zone asked me how many "check you speeds" TIWI yells at me everyday and I said 10 (they have a monitor on their car that checks their speed). He laughed and said "yeah right! I followed you for about 3 miles and I think you had 10 there!" And then later that day we followed our zone leaders to the temple and they drove 65 the whole way there. Well let's just say I don't go 65 and neither do people in San Diego. I made fun of him once we got to the temple and he told me that when he decided to start going the speed limit, his mission completely changed. WHAAAAAT!!??? So I tried it. I loved it. I was calm and the Spirit had lots of time and opportunities to speak to me because I was just casually driving and enjoying the day. Who would have ever thought this was possible!? (heheheehe) Well my zone leader took this as an opportunity to also teach me about the "good, better, and best of obedience." Pretty much you can be good at being obedient, better at it, or best at it. And someone who is "best" at obedience, goes the speed limit, writes in their journal everyday, says their personal prayer before 8:00 so they can start studying at 8:00, etc. So here it is, my gift to the Savior this year is being more obedient so that I can have the Spirit with me more often. I know this will lead to miracles. "Obedience leads to success, exact obedience leads to miracles."

So this week Grandpa T came down the stairs and asked Sister M if he could get fitted for a suit!! Yay! And then he handed her a coupon! Haha The sad part to this story is that he had a right brain stroke on Sunday and now he's in the hospital :/ So we're feeling really grateful that he got baptized a couple of weeks ago. If he had waited, it may have never happened. They said he'll be in the hospital for 2 weeks and then he'll be moving really slow for a while at home. I love him so much you guys.

This week I also took a moment to feel old... we were at our zone meeting and they played a "get to know your companion" game. One of the questions was "what is your companion's full birthday?" One of the elders went and he said he was born in '95!! '95 people!!!!!!!!! I just sat there and looked at him saying "whaaaaaat theeeeee...?" So they thought it was SUPER funny when I said when I was born.

"Grandma Barfuss" is the term they like to use :) haha

My headaches have been wonderful this week!! I'm not sure what is helping but something is! Here are the possible culprits... stretching in the morning, taking Magnesium, my reading posture, my water intake, going to the chiropractor, not having sugar, and getting good sleep, AND a Priesthood blessing. And I'm being serious about the sugar, although it's impossible to cut it out completely because it's in virtually everything, I've been trying SO hard to not take in unnecessary sugar. Thanksgiving was a beast and same with the Christmas party, but I came out victorious!

I also had an opportunity to stand up for what I believe in this week. We went to a less active's house that I'm very close with and she asked us if we would go get her some groceries because her car broke down... and she asked if we could pick up some cigarettes while we were there. Uhhhhhhhhhh no, duh. She looked at me and begged! Literally begged me. She said "I'm so stressed!! Please Sister Barfuss! Please! You're going to make me walk all the way down to seven11??" Bahhh!! I looked at her and said "I love you too much to buy you cigarettes." If I have learned one thing in Spring Valley, it's that cigarettes are the most horrible, terrible, destructive, wasteful, disgusting pieces of garbage on the planet (I would like to include alcohol in here too). I have seen too many peoples' lives destroyed. I've seen too many people become slaves to them.

We got to go to the San Diego Temple Christmas light/choir show last night! We took our investigator P and then two other members in the ward. We all crammed into his 5 seater and had fun. NEWS FLASH: I still get super car sick in the back seat. Hahaha! Good thing Sister Bauro is an international missionary so I get to drive the whole transfer! HOLLAH! The temple was all lit kinda of like a mini temple square. We went and enjoyed the choir and then talked all about why the temple is so important. Why is the temple so important eh!? Here is my current favorite part of the temple: It's a place where everyone becomes equalized and unites in their mutual love for God and the Savior. You can get answers there because the Spirit has less it has to fight against to get your attention. There you can find peace. There is no such thing as that kind of peace anywhere else in the world. You can also learn. I'm finding that my conversion can always be deeper. It can ALWAYS be rooted farther and farther down so I can become stronger and stronger through Christ.

I love you mamas :) you're my favorite

Sister Barfuss

The Turkey Trot

So transfers are tomorrow and ill be getting a new companion! :) So it looks like I'll be in Spring Valley for the holidays!! (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years). And guess whats happening on Thanksgiving!? Grandpa Ted is getting baptized!! At 10:00 sharp! He said to make sure the water is warm (last time he got baptized it was in a river in the winter hahaha they had to cut a hole in the ice). Mamas, I'm playing the opening and closing songs at the baptism! Yay! So we'll be putting on a baptism at 10 and then families have invited us over at 12, 1, and 4!!!! PARTY! I'm not sure how this whole no sugar thing will work.... And we already had a mini thanksgiving on Sunday with sister H..

 

random facts...

1. I got my debit card! I spent some money today but it was because I got Christmas stuff and sent it. I'm not going to use anymore this month

2. Your Christmas packy is on the way!! I want you to open it on Christmas eve before K&T&P leave :) but not until then!!!!

3. Grandma Preece sent me a really nice card and she emails me all the time :) i love her to death. i'm going to spend some time with her when i get back.

4. I went to a Catholic funeral this week with a potential investigator! It was so different! And the whole thing was in spanish. We were on the front row so i was praying that no one would come up to me and say anything. And I was on the very end, so if a priest was going to do something, he would start with me!! We stood up and sat back down like 10 times and they had their version of the sacrament. They had an organist and a priest that did the whole thing. I only felt the Spirit once...when the organist sang "Ave Maria" :)

5. We had lightning AND thunder this week!!

6. I got to feel all cool and talk about HAM radios with a member. Dad would have been proud! :)

7. I got my mission call a year ago on Thanksgiving!! remember when we were in the hotel room before going to Dree's and Dad checked and it said "assigned"!!?? :) :) :)

8. We had two Portuguese speakers in sacrament meeting that used a translator :) it was awesome.

 

Has anyone read "The Strength To Endure" by Richard J Mayne? The one that compares basketball to your testimony? That talk spoke to my heart and pierced my soul. i loooooooved it!!

 

 

What the December!?? Okay we went to the temple today, so I have to rapid fire this email... so here we go!

My new companion is Sister Bauro (like "can I borrow your jacket for a sec?"). She has been out for 15 months and is from Kiribati. That's an island kinda by Fiji. She was baptized 4 years ago and loves to laugh. She has a pretty thick accent, so I do a lot of the talking. One morning I woke up and she was eating breakfast... a bowl of mashed potatoes. So basically we can say she is an intense woman. I laugh all the time now because it's so funny to see how different we are. In a good way though! She had to learn english on her mission, so California is VERY different than home. 

On Thanksgiving Ted got baptized!! I'm so happy that you got those pictures! Funny story... Ted is so old that bending backwards isn't very comfortable, so we had two people in the font with him. He almost couldn't do it, so it was a blessing that it all went well! After the baptism we realized that they forgot to pull the plug to drain the font SOOOOOO Sister Bauro just straight up put on Ted's wet baptismal suit and went swimming. She unplugged it and then we went home and got her changed! Once again... she is an intense lady.

Thanksgiving morning I did my own version of "The Turkey Trot" and guess what!? I WON!!!! :) Hahaha! Sister Bauro isn't so into running, so I do my own little out and back run on the straight road we live on. I get a pretty good work out and then I come home and stretch and stretch. Especially my neck! That feels real nice.

FUN FACTS!

1. I love magic tricks so much. Seriously, they are my favorite thing!

2. We went into Subway this week and I didn't recognize ANY of the music playing!! Yay! It's so nice to not get trunky in every restaurant!

3. We have our own little Charlie Brown Christmas tree :) he's cute!

4. We went to the temple today and I got both of my questions answered by the Spirit, plus more! So if you can go to the temple this week, you should go. Seriously though, you won't regret it. We did some initiatories after too! What a blessing to have a temple. And the Christmas lights are up too! It's beautiful inside and out!

5. "The Testaments" movie is the silliest thing ever... hahaha! I watched it last night and I was laughing so hard the whole time. Like whaaaaat!?? Anyone feeling me here!?

Sounds like Thanksgiving was way fun at Cam's! You guys know how to cook stuff the right way baby! :) And yay that you got to see Grandma and Grandpa Barfuss! Now that I'm with  olderish people all the time, I miss them! I wish I could give them a big hug and a kiss.

I wish I could give YOU a bug hug and a kiss!!

love you mamas :) with alllll my heart!

sister barfuss

She told us all about rehab and we told her all about Christ.

Hahaha! Mamas I was cracking up the whole time during this email! :) You're my favorite! Our camping chair lesson was with our investigator named P. He's the one with all the chickens and turkeys. I sent home a few of those pictures a while back. I'll tell you a cool story about him in a sec. The "milky" milk is fat free. I honestly only ever have it in smoothies. I used to drink glasses of it all the time! Haha! And bahahahaha about you adopting my from Haiti! Seriously though... my district leader totally said that to me.

 

We haven't been able to teach the family yet, the funeral was last Saturday and they are still kind of in shock. The member that gave us the referral said the dad wanted a blessing first, so we're thinking that will happen this week.

 

 As for the headaches... don't flip out at what I'm going to say. This week I had a day where I had to stop everything and cry and cry. I had already taken 8 ibuprofen and my head was slamming. I was so frustrated and I honestly did not know what to do anymore. So I got a blessing. Elder Weidner and Elder Boasten came over and the talked with me for a while. They asked me if I had the faith to be healed and such and I honestly said "yes. but i know it's not going to happen." I'm not sure if i wasn't having any faith or if I was just being logical and knew that Heavenly Father's will wasn't going to heal me instantly. They gave me a blessing and it talked a lot about how I have this challenge for a reason (whaaaat??). The blessing also talked a lot about praying to Heavenly Father more.  After the blessing was over we talked for a little longer and they basically told me to take it easy on the ibuprofen so I didn't loose my liver. After the left sister bodine sat there and massaged my head and neck for like an hour. I'm 100% certain that my head aches are tension headaches. My shoulders and my neck are ALWAYS tight. 

 

SO that night we got invited to grandpa t's house for dinner and he had his grand daughter there who was 35 and a recovering drug addict. We talked with her and ended up teaching her the plan of salvation and a little bit of the restoration. She was so super cool! We literally talked for hours. She told us all about rehab and we told her all about Christ. It was one of the best lessons of my mission so far. She told us about being addicted to things and I really felt like I needed to back off of the ibuprofen, because honestly I wouldn't say I'm addicted, but I HAVE TO HAVE IT to get through the day. So yeah, that's not okay.  And just to cap it all off, on Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and I felt like a zombie in church. I spent all of yesterday inside blowing my nose and sleeping for literally 10 hours (that felt SOOO nice) and then today I've been coughing a whole bunch. 

 

Fun things from this week:

- i bought an in-n-out shirt! now i feel like uncle kris! hahaha

- we were with some spanish missionaries and their member came up and hugged them and then kissed them on the cheek. naturally they came up to us and did the same thing and i had NO IDEA what to do!! hahaha White people never kiss us! haha Sister Bodine and I were laughing so hard at ourselves!

- there is such a thing as toilet paper that is too soft!

 

Our investigator P came to church and saw me and looked puzzled. I said "Do I look horrible?" and he said "Yes, but you look great!" That was pretty funny. After church he made me up a care package with a bunch of voodoo herbal teas and potions :) haha But you know what!? Being sick and having headaches has taught me this... Up until now I've been very independent and strong in the mission. I didn't really feel like I needed other people's help and I KNEW that I could "muscle out" anything. Well this week I was at the mercy of everyone. Especially Sister Bodine. She massaged my shoulders forever. She stayed inside with me all day yesterday and she hasn't complained once. I'm starting to see that me being sick has allowed other an opportunity to serve me, when it might have been pretty hard to do that before.

 

I dunno... sometimes Heavenly Father brings us low so He can bring us higher. I'm grateful for that, even though it stinks sometimes. It's always worth it!

 

love you tons and tons and tons!

sister barfuss

Missionary work just got real, really quick didn't it?

Us on Halloween... notice the snow that isn't present :) it was a beautiful day

Me picking oranges with a super long pole with a basket grabber on the end :) hahaha it's SO hard to do!

 A real live avocado tree!!
Me with the smaller pole... oranges here are sooo good!!

Fun Facts:

1. In our apartment we have:11 avocados, 23 oranges, 4 lemons, 2 pears, 7 bananas, 12 apples, and one bag of spinach. 

2. Member asked me what I wanted for dinner that I missed from home. Answer = Meatloaf!

3. Number of lessons given in camping chairs on a porch this week = 1. Popsicles were included.

4. Number of times I got to go to sleep an hour early this week = 3!!! (Halloween, head ache, daylight savings)

5. Number of old ladies that call me Marysa at an old folks home =  6.

6. I hardly drink milk anymore. It tastes too "cowy"! bleh.

7. Number of times a missionary has accidentally sworn at me over text this week = 1.

8. Number of times I had a grilled cheese, salad, and wild cherry pepsi for lunch in October = 5.

9. Number of taxidermist garages toured = 1.

10. Number of elders dumb enough to bet a beverage with me when we went bowling for pday = 2.

11. Number of elders who currently owe me a beverage because they lost = 2.  :) hahaha!

 

So get this, my district leader is Haitian and he also has a twin brother. Well this week he said. QUOTE - 

 "If my twin was a girl instead of a boy, it would have been you Sister Barfuss." Hahaha! I asked him why that was and he said, "I dunno. But I KNOW you would have been my twin sister if I had one." Niceeeeeee. Apparently I can pull off being part Haitian. :) haha! yeah right.

 

Pretty much mission life is starting to get weird... transfers area almost upon us again and one of the sisters in my district goes home. So basically, when she goes home, I'm the OLDEST one (mission wise and age wise) in our district. I'm starting to get old! It's weird to have my district leader be 18 and only out for 3 months, but man he does a good job! The Lord loves helping young people who are humble!

 

Super cool to hear that Sister Satterfield made it back home! That was just the craziest thing in the world! Was there anything in the box that surprised you!? Haha! My favorite thing in there is the poncho I bought :) it's so warm and ugly. I plan on wearing it camping every single time for the rest of my life!

 

Miracle from this week: We got a call from a member in another ward with a referral... yay! But this isn't just any referral. Turns out that there was a guy that was high (maybe drunk. both!?) that was driving this past week and he swerved off the road and hit a teenage boy and killed him in Spring Valley. The boy was just walking on the side walk minding his own business and now he is dead. They had the funeral on Saturday. The father of the boy wants a blessing and the member wants the missionaries to come over and teach the Plan of Salvation. Missionary work just got real, really quick didn't it? I have been thinking about this lesson and it brings me peace to know that what I am going to teach him and then testify to him about, is true. I know it is. He will see his son again and they can and will be sealed forever and ever. Powerful.

 

I love you with all my heart!

Sister Barfuss

 

"Thank you that I've almost been cured of diarrhea."

It Rained - time for the rain coat!

                                                      normal things you see in spring valley

                              our bishop is the bottom right one... in high school :) hahaha we laughed SO hard!

Mamas I love you so much. Can I just say that!? 

 

The weather has been rainy! Which is so weird for here! In the morning it's been about 55 and then during the day maybe 85. So basically we layer up and shed layers as the day goes. I've used my rain coat like twice now... i think it's rained 3 times in the 6 months I've been here! Hahaha but man, my coat is cute!

 

Sister Holly (the one you talked to in the mission office) called me and said "I just got off the phone with your mother..." and i thought someone died. Whew! That was a close one. So basically the card was already cancelled when i tried to use it but my mission debit card has enough that we're good. So no worries there! thank you for figuring that all out for me :)

 

Grandma is 87!? Whew!! and moo turned in her application to BYU!? DAAAANG. Life goes on even when you leave doesn't it!? Funny story about Taysom Hill. So all the oldies is my ward watch BYU football and they know i'm from Pocatello and went to BYU, so they all talk to me about it all the time! Then I told them that I went to high school with Taysom and they flipped! They always keep me posted and talk to me about the games... like i know ANYTHING about that kind of stuff right now! Hahaha!

 

 

So good to hear that you guys are working with people in the neighborhood :) YAY!! that's exactly what Heavenly Father expects of you and you answered Him! I'm telling you that simple obedience things like that make a WORLD of difference!

 

Has Sister Satterfield brought a delivery to you yet!? BECAUSE SHE AND I ENDED UP AT THE SAME FIRESIDE THIS WEEK!!! Here's the story... i was sitting in a fireside and this lady turns around and says "Oh sisters!! I love sisters!!" Then she told us she was from Pocatello,ID and I was like "Whaaaaaa!?" She saw my last name and asked if I was Scott's daughter! Bingo! So we talked forever and turns out she was here in Lemon Grove for a bit and decided to come to this fireside and was driving home the next day. So I went home and made up a box of stuff for her to take to you and she has it in her car right now as far as I know! So get pumped :)

 

This week we were sitting in a lesson with a couple in the 60s that are Less Active, and all the sudden this guy walks out of the back room and the dad says "Son. Don't you go out there and do anything stupid!! You hear me!?" The son was probably 30 or so and was tattooed up all over the place. He started getting all fired up and went hauling out the door. Well when he left, the dad told us that his son has been in some gang trouble and the gang comes to their house looking for him all the time... (uhhhhhhhh you mean the house we are in right NOW!?) So pretty much he told us that a gang member has probably already driven past looking at the house since we'd been there, On another evil note, this high school kid walked past us in the parking lot of the church and yelled "Hail satan!!!" It's a problem that a lot of the elders have around here, so it was weird when it happened to us. The world is evil and messed up. It needs the Savior, and it needs Him quick.

 

So your packy was to die for!!! Garments, skirts (which are SO cute and SO perfect and you SO made them!!), the tops that you sent were way cute, the hidden money, the sister sticky notes, the small Book of Mormon, and the smell goods!!! I was so happy my face was smiley all day! :D :D :D

 

Best line in a prayer this week: "Thank you that I've almost been cured of diarrhea."

 

This week a sister was playing the Christmas song in the Primary book called "Samuel's prophecy of Christ's birth" or something like that and I LOVED it. But I saw that it had 3 flats and I said NOPE! But then the Spirit said "Try it! Do it!" And I spent a lunch hour at the church practicing and I played it!!!! I love music. Mom, I'm soooooo sorry that I was a cheese head to you about the piano. I whined and cried and cried every single time. But I was wrong. You were right. Plus, because of the piano I can sing too! Tonight at Bible Study Sister Bodine and I are singing "How Great Thou Art" because we studied Psalm 8! Love that song.

 

I finally read moo's letter to rachel and nikki... yeah uhhh so good! Seriously that girl is amazing :) My favorite part was when she said "You know what, I'd rather be known for being honest and true then all of the other stuff." And then when she said "Sometimes choosing the right means that you get to hang out with your mom on Friday nights and guess what, that's not half bad!" :) She loves you so much mamas.

 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MAMAS!!

Just as an update... i've been praying for my desires and my mindsets to change (concerning  being focused on missionary work) and Heavenly Father has been helping me. I looked back at how "in control" I was a few months ago verses now, and it's certainly improved! So yet another example of the Atonement being an everyday strength that changes you dramatically over time if you stay consistent. :)

 

LOVES LOVES,

sister barfuss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edamame is a vegetable!!!!!!

this is  "Sal" we teach him in the mornings for practice :) haha

 a little taste of california :)

Edamame is a vegetable :) they are a kind of a bean! They are SO good!

I got a packy from Katelyn!!!!!!! It was so stinkin awesome! She hooked me up! I got candies and hand sanitizer and Popsicles and quotes and tissues and candies.  HOLLAHHHHH!! :D She knows where my heart lies :) That was really nice of her! And everything was YELLOW!

Super cool to hear about your experience with writing the  Christmas program... I LOVE those moments when you really feel like revelation is running through you! When Heavenly Father just gives you the words to speak. That has happened more now on my mission and it is a experience to treasure. Thank you also for your quote about satan and his tricks...( Pres. Uchtdorf - Priesthood Session - Oct 2013 " Satan’s purpose is to tempt us to exchange the priceless pearls of true happiness and eternal values for a fake plastic trinket that is merely an illusion and counterfeit of happiness and joy." I can't believe how filthy and terrible the world is.  Every once in a while we are in a situation where we are by a TV for a second or we hear music and I am just astounded by the crud in it. I really don't know how any of that is acceptable.

One thing I'm learning is that there is SO much more going on than I think there is... in every aspect of everything. Heavenly Father is involved in EVERYTHING! There is so much more depth to the gospel, if I will just let myself go deeper. There is always more to be had when it comes to our conversion.There is always more to be had. I want to go to the temple so bad right now... December 10th is the day!!

So here is the craziness of the week! I hit 6 months!! WHAT!? And then we had  transfers and our zone got split! We were the biggest zone in the mission, so they split us Spanish and English. With that came a lot of whitewashing and guess who ended up back in the same zone with me as our new zone leader!? Anyone remember Elder Weidner? Hahaha I almost died. Here I thought I was leaving all of my friends when I got transferred here but secretly they were going to follow me!! So pretty much the Sweetwater English Zone is going to be sick. Once again, Sister Bodine and I are the only full proselyting sisters... crazzzy.

 And just as a fun fact for the world... I thought in my mind of all of my new friends that I've met in Spring Valley and 90% of them are between the ages of 65-98! That's what I'm talking about :) We have a list of 16 widows we keep tabs on, it's been really good for me to learn about enjoying every minute of life.

I love YOU!!

Sister Barfuss

Happy Columbus/National Boss Day

(what a GREAT day for Miracles!)

One thing I'm really excited for is that last night we went and saw a man in the ward we call "Grandpa Ted." He lives with his son's family who are active members in our ward. Grandpa Ted is 80 something and told everyone that he wanted to get baptized when all the family is here for Christmas. *YESSSSSSS!!* So we went over for our first lesson yesterday and had dinner after. He bought us each 5 rolled tacos and a pepsi :) hehe. I love it when we add new investigators!

 

This week it cooled off a bit (it was 47 one morning!) and on Wednesday it rained like CRAZZZZZY!! I'm going to send you some sweet pictures. Although it's cooler in the morning it's still 75-80 everyday :) life is good here in southern California! But to celebrate fall we bought a pumpkin spice candle to make it smell like fall in our apartment Haha!

 

Miracle Report!

1) we had a member ask us to come over yesterday morning and she gave us 3 bags totally full of groceries. Here she is, 80, single, probably not even five feet, no car, not a lot of money, and can hardly speak English, and she walked to the store to spend her money on groceries for us. Wow.

2) we went to another members house later that night and they gave us 24 oranges off of their trees and 8 avocados they had picked!

3) then to cap it all off Grandpa Ted gave us dinner and then sent us home with 4 packages of edamame (what is this, anyone?)! Heavenly Father took care of our grocery bill this week for sure!

4) we invited an elderly couple that we've been doing service for each week to watch conference and they told us that on Saturday they searched and searched for it and gave up. Then they tried again on Sunday and they couldn't find it again. The wife said that she kind of slammed the remote down in frustration and hit some of the numbers on accident and all of the sudden the channel with conference came up because she had hit the exact numbers for the channel... coincidence? I think not :)

5) a member took us to a taco shop for dinner earlier this week and as we were sitting there a random guy walked past and said hi to us.... understand that people NEVER do this... well after he ate his meal he came over to our table and looked at us right in the eye and said "You NEVER give up! You NEVER get discouraged! A mormon family took me in and saved my life and i will never forget it. Your mission might just be for one person, but that one person is worth it. You can save someone like me. You NEVER give up! You NEVER get discouraged!" And then he walked out of the taco shop. His name was Michael and he saved my whole entire day, to say the least. Heavenly Father answered all of your prayers for me and sent me a little angel to give me a boost. 

 

Back to Stake Conference... check this out. The opening prayer was given in Laotion, half of the talks were in Spanish, and half of the talks were in English. There were interpreters ALL over the place! What a wonderful thing to get to experience. Also very interesting, once a month President Clayton does a fireside and has missionaries sing at it. Well this month it was in Spanish but they needed more singers and it was in the zone right next to us, so Sister Bodine and I went! We sang called to serve and secret prayer in Spanish and then sat there for an hour while testimonies were being born in Spanish. I have NEVER been in a situation like that! I had NOOO idea what was going on, but I'll tell you one thing... the gospel is true in every language :) I'll tell you another thing... I think Heavenly Father knew I would do best in English work :) hahaha

 

Here is my closer today, because it changed my life. We went to go see a totally random woman who was less active. We didn't know anything about her before hand and so we went in 100% cold. As we walked up, the husband saw us from the garage and came out super fast yelling "Are you mormons!? DON'T EVEN TRY!! GET OUT OF HERE!"

 Instantly I was ready to be mad at him, but I said a super quick prayer to stay in control. I knew I had to stick up for us. I told him that we wanted to talk to his wife and then he just went off on every rumor and lie he's heard about the church. We just stood there and smiled. He told us how much he thinks President Monson is in it for the money (uhhh what?? he doesn't get paid yo) and that our leaders are corrupt. Here's what's going on in my head *uhhhh yeah you can say what you want about me, but not them!* We kept smiling. He FINALLY got his panties out of a wad and instead of preachin' I just asked him about his hobbies. Then a magical thing happened... he answered kindly.

 Later he said that he liked us but felt bad that we were being deceived by our leaders. Hmmmm..... heart softening anyone??..... then i asked him if he needed help around his yard. He slowly calmed down and we actually had a chance to bear a small testimony to him. When we left I shook his hand and gave him our number and said to give us a call whenever he needs help. He thanked us genuinely. 

Lesson learned? The way we conduct ourselves is much more important than our name tag. I think he was expecting us to bash with him and get all defensive, but we just smiled and brushed all of his rudeness off. I learned that my biggest missionary tool can often be my reactions and the way I conduct myself. Interesting eh?

 

I love you! Thank you for your prayers... they really were felt this week. Thank you!

Sister Barfussa

We're KEEPIN IT REAL this week!

Sister Marysa does a fantastic job of being positive and making the best of every thing. She has worked hard at bettering this strength........but like all us humans she has her challenges, and this week I decided if would be OK to share some of these challenges. Missions are HARD and it doesn't do anyone any favors (and there are many all over the world reading this blog) to pretend that missions are never challenging and only about the cool food, and scenery. So - here are some excerpts from some of Sis. Barfuss  letters........

This week I had enough of my headaches.  I started tracking them and found out that I had had one everyday for 2 weeks straight! I decided to ask the medical missionary for help.  I have only had one migraine since I've been here and I slept it off just fine,... honestly it's not like my headaches have gotten worse, I'm just sick and tired of them because they make me irritable and want to be lazy and you can't be lazy in the mission!!

I called the senior sister in charge of medical and asked her for help. She referred me to a local LDS doctor and said that I should give him a call. He asked me a bazillion questions and then made all the recommendations that I've heard before in my life that haven't helped much. Basically I thought it was a waste of time for the first 15 minutes of the phone call. He gave me a few assignments (like to drink a gallon of water a day - man, I've learned to love water this week). Just when I thought the conversation was over and I thought that I was going to have to live with my headaches for the rest of my mission, he asked me another question out of the blue, "What is holding you back Sister Barfuss?" 

.....Sorry what!? And then he asked me again. I was confused at first and he clarified. Then we had the most inspired conversation that I've had on my mission so far. I don't know how he knew that I was struggling with certain things, but he brought them all up and we talked it all out. He basically chastised me for not submitting my will to Heavenly Father fully and for not trusting Him with all my heart and mind. I bawled and bawled to him. We sorted through all the things that were holding me back and why, and then he said "Sister Barfuss, I have one more recommendation for you. Come home completely and utterly exhausted every single night. Get out of your car. Start walking. Let Heavenly Father hold all of your worries and your short comings, let Him! Give up your selfish will and enjoy His service every single day. Be proud of yourself.... And drink a gallon of water everyday!"

 He gave me the best pep talk of my life and he has never even spoken to me before. That's the Spirit right there. I'm a little embarrassed to say that Heavenly Father has often had to "strike" me to get me to listen, but this is one of those times. I spent the whole week working on handing things over and trusting... I'm still trying as we speak, but the little bit that I've been able to do has been wonderful. I feel at peace, and that's a wonderful feeling. So my invitation to you is to let your will be swallowed up in the Lord's. What exactly does that mean for you? Ask Him! He'll take care of you. I know it. He's taking care of me :)

I love you to pieces :) I love you so much!

Sister Barfuss

UPDATES

HEADACHES

I drank the gallon everyday and it seemed to help some! Well something worked!! Because I went three days without a headache (unreal for me!!) so that was nice. I'm going to see how it helps in the future

HOLDING ME BACK

 Honestly,  for the last 5 months I've been in a "grin and bear it" mentality. Missionary work is soooo hard and it's very difficult for me to be motivated ALL the time.  It's gotten to the point that I can't just "grin and bear it" anymore because it's too much. So essentially Doctor Todd talked to me about giving up my will to God and letting Him take some of the load. He talked to me about how I needed to stop trying to do what I wanted to be happy and to do the things that Heavenly Father wants me to do to be happy, because that's where true happiness lies. 

 I read some talks ("The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence Corbridge, was my favorite) and I found that my main problem is that I didn't trust Heavenly Father enough to give Him my will.( Just a side note... another hard thing about a mission is that you are stuck with yourself all day... for instance, before the mission I would watch tv or hang out with friends when I didn't want to do the things I needed to do , but on the mission you HAVE to live in your guilt). I found out that I was happy, but not truly happy, I was finding happiness in my relationships with missionaries and the fun we were having. So now I know why I got transferred out of north zone, I was "stuck" in my false happiness. Heavenly Father had to rip me away from all my friends, investigators, and ward members and throw me into a new area  to learn how to find happiness in Him. Trust me that everything is fine... but it's hard. 

So here we go!

 Missions are Beasts.

"Happy Halloween you two."

 And then I got a truck load of pictures from you and Katelyn and they were perfect!!! I laughed and laughed and laughed! Some of them I don't even remember what was going on! But you picked out the perfect ones! I DIED when I saw the one of our family at the San Diego temple! How stinkin' cool is that! I don't even remember coming here! You even made me cry because I was so happy :) So thank you from the bottom of my heart. My favorites were the super embarrassing ones of me and Moo, the one of me and dad in the garden, the one when you took me and moo on a little day trip to the reservoir, the picture of me and brennan at the statue of liberty looking all nasty, and then the softball ones of katelyn and moo :) they were SO great! And our new family picture!! WHEW that's a good one! My favorite ones of katelyn's were her and todd and peter at the temple and peter is kissing her, her and peter on mothers day, and then the one when he's in the cupboards :) hehe THANK YOU SO MUCH :) :) they are perfect.

 

Last Pday we went to a pier only about 3 miles from the border! So naturally, we went the extra three miles and waved to Tajiuana! Not even joking... we saw the HUGE Mexican flag that flies over Tijuana and then we took pictures and such. The craziest part is that they have all these signs on the interstate that say "LAST UNITED STATES EXIT IN 500 FEET" so if you miss that one you have to go to Mexico. We were very careful to make sure we hit that last exit. Can you even imagine having to tell President Clayton that we went to Mexico for Pday!?? So bad. But basically we serve in northern mexico... Sister Bodine and I are the only full proselyting english speaking sisters in the zone. When we go to Pday stuff the missionaries are always blabbing in spanish and we feel kinda stupid. BUT! Let's just take a moment to reflect on who in the Barfuss family was the only one to not take French in high school for some weird reason... yup :) I know that Heavenly Father was even preparing me in high school for my mission because although I don't remember hardly ANY spanish from high school, I know how to pronounciate things around here! Yay! I can't tell you how many of the street names can make you look stupid if you don't know Spanish. Aka- "Jamacha" :) hahaha!

 

Some funnies...

1) we went to dinner at one of older lady friends house and when we walked in she had her fireplace going. Well you have to realize that it was 75 here and humid... BLEHHHH!! I sat there the whole time about to faint. It was SO hot! But I will say that the fire place brought on a new level of classiness that I haven't seen for a while, so I'll give her that ;)

2) during sunday school this week they were talking about the seagulls that ate the crickets that were eating all the pioneer's crops. Well since we're in California, the teacher took a moment to make sure he pointed out that the utah state bird is the CALIFORNIA seagull and everyone laughed and laughed. I'm pretty sure I even heard a couple of knees slap ;) People make fun of Utah SO much here. I secretly thought the whole situation was funny because of Johnny Biscuit's comedy routine he does on the mormon crickets... *But they ate the crickets bissssscuit!* Anyone!? Hahaha!

3) somehow we ended up on a toll road this week? And since neither of us had even been on one before we didn't know how to pay! We didn't want to hold up the people coming in behind us, so I grabbed my purse as fast as I could and slapped my debit card into the machine! Who knows how much it cost!? Hopefully not too much. Haha! But seriously... paying to use a certain street? Like whaaaat!?

4) I found that this week my brain was hungering for some sort of stimulation other than spiritual, so I decided to make a math problem for myself (I know, I know, I'm sorry I ever complained about math homework). Here's what I decided to do... Missionaries say the phrase "Set goals and make plans" about a trillion times a week because of nightly planning and weekly planning. I decided to calculate how many times an average missionary would say it their whole mission! *wOoOoW sister barfuss get a life* Turns out an Elder says it over 8,000 times and a sister says it over 6,000 times. That's what I'm talking about!!

5) we did some service for two elderly potential investigators this week and it was AWESOME. The husband looked at us and said, "I need you to weed whack this whole back yard of weeds." YESSSSS!!!!!! Could you pick better service for Sister Barfuss? I submit that you cannot. THEN he gave me a automatic hedge trimmer thingy and said "I want this bush to be 6 feet tall." So I gave a HUGE bush a hair cut! I was so nasty after... I found twigs in my hair for days. But man, it feels SO GOOD to use you body for service. Lots of missionary work is you mind and your mouth, so it was delightful to use my hands and my muscles for a few hours.

6) we printed out some invitations to watch conference this weekend and we've been giving them out. Well we gave one to this huge dude and he all he said was "Happy Halloween you two." Ummmm yeah, 

We got a good chuckle out of that one...

 

Can I just take a moment to say that if you want to learn about other cultures, languages, ways of living, etc., come hang out in San Diego for a bit (or maybe get out of Idaho and Utah haha!). This week I talked with people who are white, people who are Hispanic, people who are black, people who are Native American, people who are Polynesian. We talk with people who are more committed to their animals than their kids, people who like to cuss ever three words (lets just say that my ears have heard everything you can imagine plus a few more), and people who don't know what to do because they only have 10 bucks in their bank account. We run into to super lonely people all the time, people who are still single at 55, and people who work 12 hour day. My mind is really being opened up to the world. But more specifically, the things that I should be more grateful for.

 

Let's take a moment to talk about General Conference!!! YESS!!! The relief society session was perfect. Covenants, covenants, covenants :) That was my first experience with conference as a missionary and I can't wait for more! The way my mission lands I get to watch conference 3 different times! Let's get some guesses on what the main topics for this weekend will be... my guess is missionary work and covenants! BAM! Because in all reality the reason we do missionary work and that each ward has a rescue plan is so that people can make or get back to keeping their covenants... love it! Just a quick thing I thought of... in October 2011 conference they announced the Provo City Center Temple, October 2012 they announced the missionary age change, so what will October 2013 bring to blow my mind!?? I can't wait!

 

I love you to pieces :) I love you so much!

Sister Barfuss

You like Carlos Santana!?

I'm just going to jump right into the good stuff today... here are the highlights of Sister Barfuss' week!

Turns out that at Bible study every week the sister missionaries are in charge of singing a musical number. Well if any of you remember anything about me, it's that I don't really love singing in small groups, let alone acapella, 2 part, and in someone's living room. But Heavenly Father refuses to leave me where I'm at! And by golly, I want to grow! So Sister Bodine and I sang,  "There is a Green Hill Far Away" and I about fell over. But then something great happened, it wasn't that bad! Then we went to a woman's house later that week and sang her a song while Sister Bodine played the Ukulele. Guess who has to sing again tonight!? Yep. Here's what I've learned. Heavenly Father can really (for reals, He can and will) make weak things become strong. My ability to improve my comfort level while singing is correlated exactly to my faith.

We went to the Mormon Battalion twice this week! I LOVE that place. I decided to email you the pictures we take so that you can secretly know what I'm up to that day! (You can email the pictures right there at the Battalion). The first picture with the older lady is Sister ----. The ward has been trying to get in and help her for years and she has always refused to accept help. Well one day we went over and I asked her a bunch of questions... she told me that she doesn't feel very good everyday. Soon enough I figured out that she has Chronic Pain and Fatigue and she doesn't like how everyone thinks she is just "making up" her pain. She told me all about her pain and that she "puts a show on" at church because she hurts so bad. Then she talked about how she has always done everything herself and she will always do everything herself even if it kills her.

I thought about all of this for a second and then I felt like I should share my experiences with people that have similar challenges. I told her that my mom has to deal with the same thing and that she in no way inflicted it on herself and that IT IS REAL. I told her about how my mom didn't like slowing down at first and still tried to do everything she was doing before. Sister ---- asked me about mom's symptoms and I told her a few and she matched them all pretty well. I just looked at her and said with all the love I had, that "I know you want to do everything yourself. I know that it's frustrating and that you hate it. But I also know that I have the particular mom I have for a reason. I have had lots of experience helping her with things, so I know what hurts the most. Sister ----, where is your vacuum? Let us vacuum for you."

She smiled, gave us some treats and invited us over for the next day. We did about 6 hours of service for her and she fed us lunch :) As Sister Hinkley once said "Everything you are learning now, is preparing you for something else." Pay attention to every situation you are in, there is a very specific reason! Funny fact: every time we go over to Sister ---- she makes us a root beer float and calls it "rooty toot float time." Haha! Love her!

Oh and PS- the other sister you are seeing in all those pictures is Sister -----. She is a Battalion sister that served in Spring Valley and knows all the people we bring, so she gives us the tour and gets in the pictures! She's great!

Now I would like to move to a section called

 "Awkward Moments Rebounded Off Of - Staring Sister Barfuss"

 Haha! Get pumped! I have two stories to tell today. The first being about a Mariachi band :)

So we went to the Battalion with Sister ----- (did you end up sending her a letter? i can't remember) this week and after she took us out to lunch. We went to a super good Mexican restaurant and all the sudden we see this mariachi band walking around. So of course they see our table and think, "We need to go embarrass them and then ask them for money!" Naturally I am on the end that is closest to them. 30 seconds later they came over and said "You like good music!??" And since I am mastering the art of making potentially awkward moments not awkward, I said, "You bet I do!" They said back to me "You like Carlos Santana!?" Me: "You bet I do!" *que mariachi band* Thank goodness that Sister -----
knows how to have fun, so we started moving and dancing. At some point one of the band members tried to scare me -  I just kept acting like this was a normal thing for me... I look over and Sister Bodine has her camera out and is recording it all... I'll send that video sometime soon. When they are all done they said "You chicas are fun!!" *que me letting out the biggest sigh of relief that that was over* We gave them 2 bucks :) Situation awkward or not awkward?? - NOT AWKWARD!!!

Last story in this section... We walked up to a house where a less active lived and there was someone on the porch. Naturally I started talking to him and he said that he knew about Mormons and didn't need to talk to us. We asked if we could share a scripture anyway, we did, and then I asked if we could pray with him before we left. He said yes and then I asked him to say it. So he looked at me for a second and then looked down for about 25 seconds. I wasn't sure what he was doing but I assumed that he was getting ready to pray or something, so I bowed my head and kept one eye open to see what he was doing. Pretty soon he looked up at me and smiled.

(Uhhhhhh... wait so did you just pray in your head?? Or uhhh did you think I was going to pray? Or uhhh... I'm super confused?) So I just said "Heavenly Father loved hearing from you right then! Thank you so much for praying with us. You have a nice evening alright!?" *walk off* Situation awkward or not awkward?? - NOT AWKWARD!!!

Best quote of the week... "Heavenly Father loves us how we are, but He refuses to leave us that way."

I'm so happy that He supports me all the time. He loves me. 

He wants me to push myself everyday so that I can see how good it feels to align my will with His.

Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

I love you!!

Sister Barfuss