This is incredible!  She left SLC at 8:30 this morning (April 30, 2013) and we already have a picture of her (at 2pm)

and know that she is safe and sound and that she has an incredible Mission President and wife - what a blessing!

Thank You For Your Kindness in writing Marysa!

I just got off the phone with her and just like that she is off to San Diego.
Done with the MTC! She called from the airport and we had a good 45 minutes to talk.She even got to talk to Scott before he left for work - perfect timing! Her schedule was a little off yesterday as the MTC is transitioning to include WYView ( apartment complex where missionaries will stay and train and eat). So she was not able to use a computer but said there is a written letter on its way. So her P-day got skipped and she wasn't able to do any wash or anything, but she assures me she didn't pack any dirty clothes - they just got up at 3am to do their wash this morning! She has been blessed to be headache free even with her crazy schedule, and has been able to sleep - just not a lot of it! Pres. Clayton sent us her schedule for the day today, and it included 2 naps :) A companion from Texas taught her some wrestling moves (women's wrestling in Texas - go Texas!) Picture Marysa on the floor in a tiny room with 3 bunk beds, learning a take down - pretty funny!) Watch out Shad Preece!
She is VERY grateful for all the mail she has been receiving - thanks so much!Anytime you can make the Elders jealous because you have so much mail, it's a good day! Her time on a computer to read e-mails is limited, so letters are best.  And nothing is easier than sending a letter through DearElder.com - Pouch or non-Pouch.  Either way they print it, put it in an envelope and send it on its' way (for non-pouch you can keep a credit to pay for stamps)

Have a wonderful day and thanks for your support of the great work these Elders and Sisters are doing!
Sis. Barfuss will be landing soon!

And Good Glory, We Need A Miracle!

Oh my goodness -  Hello to the people I Love!!

Please excuse the typing errors... right now it's more important to get an email to you than to type well :) (gotta love Dictionary.com - Mamma Barfuss needed it with this letter........:) pretty sure she was in a hurry!)

Thank you for the letters mom, katelyn, anneli, and tyler! You all are the best people on the earth! Heaven bless you for your kindness! It was Christmas when I got them!!

THE GOOD:

My face prescription stuff is the best! I can't remember the name of it but i should have two prescriptions at  Walgreens and its one of them. Mamas if you could get both of them if they're not too expensive (no rush i have a lot of the samples) that would be wonderful. Love you!! 

The other day a brother did a training for us and I swear on my life that he was a child that President Campbell and Brian Regan had together!! He was blond and crazy and did that creeper walk that Brian Regan does! hahahahhahah I was dying the WHOLE time

As for what makes me homesick.... so far I have been doing pretty well. (we were just wondering what we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT write about) I didn't feel homesick until Sunday because that's the day that I loved the most at Brownstone. We dorked aroud like crazy and had so much fun. So having to think about that and the fact that they were all ten feeeeet  from the MTC was hard but luckily my district is (are?) seriously my best friends!! I love every single one of them to death and the best part is that we are ALL going to San Diego! We get complimented ALL the time about how much people like our district! We are working hard but are still humble. Seriously though, these elders and sisters are going to be my best friends for life..

We got our travel plans! We fly out of SLC on the 30th at about 8:30. We can call home if there is time.... I would love to talk to you but I don't think I'm gonna stress about it since I chatted a week ago and we are going to get to call on Mother's day. I 'll keep you posted on exact time next week.

THE BETTER: 

MY district!! Let's get a small overview of the Elders and Sisters. Sister Pond is our sister training leader, pretty much the zone leader of the sisters, she is from Indiana. She is seriously the bomb and the mom of the group. Her companion is Sister Mims, who came late so I didn't know she existed when I wrote you that letter, is from Waxahatchie (sp?) Texas and you will never forget it!! She has a thick accent and it kills me... hahhaa I tried to steal her brownie the other day at lunch and she's all "Sister Barfuss!!! Don't you know not to steal a Texas girls dessert!!!!????" Hahahha She calls me a hillbilly all the time and she loves to laugh. She and I have a lot of fun. Sister Thaler is my companion from Colorado. She reminds me of Charlotte a lot so she feels like an old friend. We get along very well and have had wonderful conversations.

The devotional on Sunday was given by the BYU Men's Chorus!!!! Thank you Heavenly Father for that one. I have been missing music (not one direction and stuff like that, but spiritual music that invites the Spirit very quickly) so much! Music is not allowed in the MTC... so we only get to sing hymns and stuff like that. Men's Chorus sang all of their songs from their new missionary CD! So cool!! They closed with "Who Is He in Yonder Stall" I think it's called and I used to listen to that when I walked to school in  the morning every single day. It made me weep. Seriously it felt so good to hear the old songs I loved so much. Made me feel like my old self but my new self at the same time.

I saw Elder Eliason finally! After 5 days of being here I saw him on my walk to the temple. We took a picture and he spoke some Russian to me! He is doing wonderful. Everyone thank Heavenly Father for him in your prayers tonight... he was one of the best influences before I left.

THE BEST:

I am a changed woman. Don't laugh! I am! I walked into this place a total derp with a testimony. I have now learned that that is NOT enough. We must be CONVERTED to the Lord and His gospel. On Sunday night we watched a talk by Elder Bednar that he gave on Christmas in the MTC last year called "Character of Christ." Life changing! He talked about how IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!!!  Repeat... IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU SISTER BARFUSS! STOP FEELING BAD FOR YOURSELF AND WHINING. The reason we have to get rid of these tendencies is because when we are focused on ourselves we are giving in to the natural man inside of ourselves. We must overcome that natural man and become like Christ. Christ turns outward where the natural man turns inward. When He was betrayed over and over and over and over in just one night, He was concerned with healing the ear of the guard that Peter swiped. How do we do this though? How do we turn outward? The trick is that we don't try... hang in there with me... as we loose ourselves in the service of others it just happens with out us even knowing :) it becomes the new and better version of us.

This week I've had numerous up and downs. I won't lie... i totally lost it one class period and had to bawl it all out. I was frustrated because I wasn't feeling the Spirit and I knew I needed it BAD to teach in a few minutes. I thought and thought and talked and talked with Sister Thaler and we found that we were being obedient but not strictly obedient. We learned very quickly that obedience leads to blessings but exact obedience leads to miracles. And good glory we needed a miracle! (my favorite line in the entire letter!) We have since been reading and studying the handbook and searching for what it is that we can obey more fully. I love the challenge because you all know that I am compitetive :) hehehehehehehehe I have found that one of my strengths is the small talk that it takes to get in the door and teach. When Sister Thalor and I teach, I take care of that and then I segue into the lesson and get us chatting about their life. I'm good at forming a relationship and making them feel like we care about them, not just a baptism... because we do want to know them and we do care!!! Read the section of PMG where it talks about inspired questions... that's also something I'm working on and feel good about. Then Sister Thaler is our closer. She is amazing at testifying with power and authority. We are a good pair but we need to get stronger and get better at being stronger where the other is weak.

Things are good :)

Things are hard :)

Everything is about Christ :) :) I'm working on remembering that each and everyday :)

I LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH IT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE TO TYPE CORRECTLY.

 But really though.

Have a fantastic week! Talk to someone you normally wouldn't!

 Smile! I promise I will too!

Sister Barfuss

I'm Alive!!

This is Marysa's FIRST letter. She must like us a lot because we got a Flick (from Bug's life) postage stamp. She wrote this the first night she was in the MTC. If you would like to see pictures of the "drop off" you can just paste this address!

 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=462699433798295&set=pcb.462699533798285&type=1&theater

4-17-13
Oh my goodness I'm alive! Within 10 minutes of Mom and Dad dropping me off I already had everything I needed for the day and I was in my classroom! They wisk you from table to table to table :) Haha! Tonight I had chicken, chocolate milk, and gravy.......yummmmmm. So craziness!  There are 4 sets of Elders and then me and my two companions in our district. All of the Elders, and I mean ALL of them, have had their calls for only 5 weeks!!! ARGGG! And ALL the sisters have had them for 4+ months!  What even is that!?? Hahaha  What's super cool is we're all going to San Diego English speaking! So we're all going to be good friends! We'll even fly there together.  My companions are Sister Thayler (the A is like the A in made) and Sister Pond.  (from Colorado and Indiana - I'm trying not  to be super informative with the personal info of others on this blog).  Both SUPER cool/easy to get along with. I feel so good.  Seriously though!  I bawled for like 1 minute and then BOOM I was "A" Okay!  Heavenly Father has certainly blessed me with a calm heart and courage. My name tag makes me look so rad.  The dork dot kind of takes away from the coolness though ;)I'm on the top bunk!  We have 3 bunk beds in here! HAHA  This is the first time they have had more sisters than elders report! 259 Sisters and 253 Elders!
Sorry I'm so random! 
Gotta be quick:)
I Love You So Much!
The Church is True!
I Love You So Much!
Grandpa Preece told Marysa to "give'm heck!!"

And Grandma Barfuss said, "You'll make a good Mormon Missionary"
So - we think she'll be just fine:)!!!!!!!!!