Butterflies........:)

Today I am super grateful. Seriously though. Sister Montgomery got some bad news from home in an email and she and I just took a moment to cry. Honestly, it is so hard to not be able to talk to your family when you hear of bad news. I love her so much and I don't like seeing the people I love get hurt. It breaks my heart, but she knows that the Savior is aware of her and I know that the Spirit will bless me with promptings to know how to help her the most. Be so grateful that you can call anyone at anytime... because it's torture to not be able to. I'm NEVER taking that for granted again when I'm back. 

On a happier note... this week was lovely! Full of lots of happy moments for me and other people. Nancy and Cameron's baptism went so well and now they have the Holy Ghost, too! What a life changing thing! Sister Strasser and I sang,  'Be Still, My Soul' by Sally Deford because we sang it to Nancy the first time we met her. I wrote in a Alto part so it was a little more interesting than just the melody... thank you mom for teaching me about music and how to sing :) I love you so much for that.

Highlight Reel-

1. I shook Elder Ballard's hand!! Elder Ballard talked a lot about keeping an eternal perspective. It was exactly what I needed. He also talked about prayers. My prayers seem to be always changing because people keep teaching me about new and better ways to pray! It's really exciting!

2. Nancy challenged me to some ping-pong when we were at her house the day after her baptism (I may or may not have been talking a whole bunch of smack which led to her challenging me :) haha) So it turns out she is amazing!! I got destroyed 20-9. I promptly took my spot on the couch and stopped being so  prideful :) I'll try and send you a video that Sister Strasser took of it!

3. Since Sister Montgomery is a super awesome runner, we've been planning runs to cool places ever morning. We found this pier that is wooden and so pretty! Every morning we run to it and then out to the very end so we can feel like we're in the ocean! The best part is that since we've been doing so much more running my body has been more tired right!? Well since I'm almost always tired anyway, this means I've been able to master the art of falling asleep pretty quickly! Yay! SOOO story time..... when we weekly plan, to start out we say a very long and detailed prayer about all of the people we are working with... Well it was Sister Strasser's turn to say it this week. We knelt down and I looked at my watch to time how long this one would be just for fun. The prayer starts. Pretty soon Sister Strasser and Sister Montgomery were up and walking around and I realized that I TOTALLY fell asleep during it. Hahaha! They didn't notice  I was sleeping, but they did notice that I didn't say amen :) Haha I looked at my watch and her pray was 23 minutes long............ THAT is awesome :)

4. We saw some Jehovah's Witness missionaries on the street the other day and they have started dressing just like LDS missionaries! White shirts and a tie! The women missionaries look like they are from the 80s though... so that's cool that we get to stylin'!

5. We went to a dinner appointment last night and at the end they gave us the biggest chunk of bread pudding I've ever seen in my life. And it was nasty! When the mom left the room the three of us looked at each other in a panic because we knew we had to eat it, but it was so much and so gross! So I hurried and grabbed a piece of news paper from the counter and I put all of my bread pudding in it. Then Sister Strasser and Sister Montgomery chucked theirs at me too. I wrapped it up and shoved it in my purse so fast, oh man!!! And the mom never noticed. yessssss.

Remember my friend Carmody from BYU that passed away a few months before I left? She made a New Year's goal in January to see a butterfly every single day. Well I was thinking about her this last week and I decided to make that my goal,  too. I see a lot of butterflies around here, but just in case, I bought a picture of Christ with a child and they are holding and looking at a butterfly. It's so beautiful, and it reminds me of how wonderful Carmody's example to me still is every single day. Sometimes I think I'm too loud, too flustered, and too focused on the stresses of life. Carmody and I loved to just talk and shoot the basketball around every night for an hour or two in the summer. She really liked simple things. Carmody would only watch TV shows like MASH :) and listen to oldies music, and she never felt like she was 'missing out' on the world. It will do me good to slow down this week and let some of the blessings of my life soak in deeper. I want to appreciate my family more. I want to love my companions more. I want to understand them more. I want to enjoy every little flower in San Diego. I want to smile at everyone that walks by. I want to let Christ show me what He loves about Pacific Beach and La Jolla and University City. I bet He has some secrets He would love to let me in on :)

I love you! Thank you for your really nice emails :) they make me feel special! 

Sister Barfuss