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