(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
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