He's There! He Really Is.

What's up every body!?? Sounds like Brennan is having quite a time in Thailand! Man! All I have to say is that I would not do well with those lizards... They are massive and NASTY!

And I can definitely say that there is a reason that Heavenly Father sent Brennan to the Philippines on a mission... so he would already know how to deal with the craziness that is over there in Bangkok! What a cool blessing! And all the pictures you sent mamas of the house and the yard were beautiful! I have forgotten what green grass and a garden looks like, there really isn't such a thing here. And the common area got swings!? WHAT!?? I'm totally pumped right now! :D Yay for my future life!

So did you all hear about the guy that killed some family members in San Diego this week and then kidnapped the 16 year old daughter? Then he got caught in Idaho? Well we sure did! All of the missionaries' phones got an Amber Alert texts looking for the 16 year old and then all the electronic billboards here had her information on it while were driving around. Sad and scary stuff right there... It's so weird to not have the news. Members had to tell us why we were all getting Amber Alerts! 

Some funnies from the week...

1. We had zone meeting this week and they did an activity where we split up into 2 teams. The teams had to choose a person to come up to the front and be in a competition so my team made me do it. Well I get up there and they say "okay here's a piece of paper and here is a crayon." They gave me this stuff and then a card with words on it. I assumed that we were playing pictionary right!? Well then I they say "Oh yeah! There's a twist! You have to draw the pictures with your left foot!" OH MY NASTY!!! So I took off my shoe and my socky and away my foot went! I actually got 3 of the 5 done in a minute and we won! Hahaha 

2. Last Pday I played three on three basketball for a solid 3 hours and I decided that I stink at ball handling. So I had Elder Johnson give me a short "how to" and he just laughed and laughed at me the whole time. He taught me how to do the figure 8 between my legs which supposedly is supposed to help ball handling. I've been practicing in the morning during exercise. Sometimes we go to the church and Sister Strasser and I play against each other while Sister Montgomery runs :) it's great! So now the challenge is to be able to play under pressure... we're not playing basketball today as a zone because we're going bowling, but next week! I just want to be good at basketball darn it!!

3. So you know "The District" show that's on BYUTV? The one filmed in San Diego? Well there is a man on it named Brother Vargus who baptizes Ming and uhhhh.... I had FHE with him last night! BOOYAH!!!! :) My life is so darn funny!

4. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a girl this week in the church and after we were all done I asked her "What are you feeling right now?" She told me that she felt like it answered every question she could ever have! Then she said "But I don't believe it." Ummm... wait, what? Didn't you just say that you loved it? She then went on to tell us that we were super good saleswomen and that the training center must do a really good job  teaching us because we almost got her to believe it. Ummmmmm..... I think the reason we are "super good" is because we're telling the truth! We asked some more questions and I finally came to the conclusion that she knows the Plan of Salvation is true, but she doesn't know what to do now because her church doesn't have all of the answers we gave her and she used to think that her church had it all. It's very interesting to me that every church really does have truth but the hang up is they don't have ALL the truth. Come -  let us add to your testimony of Christ! You'll love it! :D

And now I am going to bear testimony of something that I feel very strongly about. The reason I feel so confident in this is because I've seen it first hand in my life and I KNOW that it can be a positive influence in your life too. I want to talk about the smaller applications of the Atonement for a minute. Too often we think of the Atonement only for huge sins. Stuff that we feel we have to talk to a Bishop about. WELL -  I'm hear to say that the 50% of the Atonement is definitely for those things, but the there is an opposite side to that coin. The Atonement is for our little weaknesses and shortcomings. For example, before I left for San Diego I was very caught up in the details of everything. I always had to plan my day out with a list of every little thing. If anything got thrown I was mad. Everything had to be perfect. If anyone made a mess in "my area that had to be perfect" I would be SO mad and then get frazzled about having to clean it up and then do this and that and this and that. I never felt like I was on top of things and I would lose sleep at night worrying about how I was going to get on top on things the next day.

 I planned and then worried and then planned and then worried. Well, when I got to the mission field I said to myself, "Self, this is how you are. You are a clean freak and you have to plan everything. You are just like that and you cannot change, nor should you. Keep being like this for the rest of your life because this is the only way to live life. One day other people will catch on." After a few days I found out that SO many things were out of my control. Everything I used to do was either not an option or I had to wait a long time to do it. I was so bothered and I got mad about it a lot. I felt out of control and that I would NEVER be able to function in this new environment I had. Well it's taken a solid 4 months of slowly adjusting and changing, but now I can say that I DO NOT HAVE TO BE IN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING. Through praying for strength from Christ and also asking for the enabling power of the Atonement to help change me, Heavenly Father answered my prayers. 

Slowly Christ and I have been working on being patient and letting things go. He has been helping me see what is worth getting worried about, and what doesn't need to be a big deal. He has been teaching me about how NOT making a plan for everything allows the Spirit to guide my life and how that is the kind of life I should be living. Compare all of this to running a marathon (or a half marathon :) hahaha) We have to take it one step at a time. You're not going to be able to just change over night. You have to run a few 3 milers before you can run a 5. You have to run a few 13 milers before you can try a 18. Heavenly Father sees where we are at and has a perfect plan for how to move us forward in the direction of His dreams for us! He knows the PERFECT way to train! He knows exactly where you are coming from, what you struggle with, and where you can go! Let Him take charge. Let Him make you better. And most of all, let Him be the one that chooses your final destination, because He will always choose a better destination than we could ever imagine.

I love Heavenly Father. He's there! He really is. And He's proud of you.

I love you!

Sister Barfuss