Wednesday, November 13, 2013

She told us all about rehab and we told her all about Christ.

Hahaha! Mamas I was cracking up the whole time during this email! :) You're my favorite! Our camping chair lesson was with our investigator named P. He's the one with all the chickens and turkeys. I sent home a few of those pictures a while back. I'll tell you a cool story about him in a sec. The "milky" milk is fat free. I honestly only ever have it in smoothies. I used to drink glasses of it all the time! Haha! And bahahahaha about you adopting my from Haiti! Seriously though... my district leader totally said that to me.
 
We haven't been able to teach the family yet, the funeral was last Saturday and they are still kind of in shock. The member that gave us the referral said the dad wanted a blessing first, so we're thinking that will happen this week.
 
 As for the headaches... don't flip out at what I'm going to say. This week I had a day where I had to stop everything and cry and cry. I had already taken 8 ibuprofen and my head was slamming. I was so frustrated and I honestly did not know what to do anymore. So I got a blessing. Elder Weidner and Elder Boasten came over and the talked with me for a while. They asked me if I had the faith to be healed and such and I honestly said "yes. but i know it's not going to happen." I'm not sure if i wasn't having any faith or if I was just being logical and knew that Heavenly Father's will wasn't going to heal me instantly. They gave me a blessing and it talked a lot about how I have this challenge for a reason (whaaaat??). The blessing also talked a lot about praying to Heavenly Father more.  After the blessing was over we talked for a little longer and they basically told me to take it easy on the ibuprofen so I didn't loose my liver. After the left sister bodine sat there and massaged my head and neck for like an hour. I'm 100% certain that my head aches are tension headaches. My shoulders and my neck are ALWAYS tight. 
 
SO that night we got invited to grandpa t's house for dinner and he had his grand daughter there who was 35 and a recovering drug addict. We talked with her and ended up teaching her the plan of salvation and a little bit of the restoration. She was so super cool! We literally talked for hours. She told us all about rehab and we told her all about Christ. It was one of the best lessons of my mission so far. She told us about being addicted to things and I really felt like I needed to back off of the ibuprofen, because honestly I wouldn't say I'm addicted, but I HAVE TO HAVE IT to get through the day. So yeah, that's not okay.  And just to cap it all off, on Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and I felt like a zombie in church. I spent all of yesterday inside blowing my nose and sleeping for literally 10 hours (that felt SOOO nice) and then today I've been coughing a whole bunch. 
 
Fun things from this week:
- i bought an in-n-out shirt! now i feel like uncle kris! hahaha
- we were with some spanish missionaries and their member came up and hugged them and then kissed them on the cheek. naturally they came up to us and did the same thing and i had NO IDEA what to do!! hahaha White people never kiss us! haha Sister Bodine and I were laughing so hard at ourselves!
- there is such a thing as toilet paper that is too soft!
 
Our investigator P came to church and saw me and looked puzzled. I said "Do I look horrible?" and he said "Yes, but you look great!" That was pretty funny. After church he made me up a care package with a bunch of voodoo herbal teas and potions :) haha But you know what!? Being sick and having headaches has taught me this... Up until now I've been very independent and strong in the mission. I didn't really feel like I needed other people's help and I KNEW that I could "muscle out" anything. Well this week I was at the mercy of everyone. Especially Sister Bodine. She massaged my shoulders forever. She stayed inside with me all day yesterday and she hasn't complained once. I'm starting to see that me being sick has allowed other an opportunity to serve me, when it might have been pretty hard to do that before.
 
I dunno... sometimes Heavenly Father brings us low so He can bring us higher. I'm grateful for that, even though it stinks sometimes. It's always worth it!
 
love you tons and tons and tons!

sister barfuss

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Missionary work just got real, really quick didn't it?

Us on Halloween... notice the snow that isn't present :) it was a beautiful day
Me picking oranges with a super long pole with a basket grabber on the end :) hahaha it's SO hard to do!







 A real live avocado tree!!
Me with the smaller pole... oranges here are sooo good!!
Fun Facts:
1. In our apartment we have:11 avocados, 23 oranges, 4 lemons, 2 pears, 7 bananas, 12 apples, and one bag of spinach
2. Member asked me what I wanted for dinner that I missed from home. Answer = Meatloaf!
3. Number of lessons given in camping chairs on a porch this week = 1. Popsicles were included.
4. Number of times I got to go to sleep an hour early this week = 3!!! (Halloween, head ache, daylight savings)
5. Number of old ladies that call me Marysa at an old folks home =  6.
6. I hardly drink milk anymore. It tastes too "cowy"! bleh.
7. Number of times a missionary has accidentally sworn at me over text this week = 1.
8. Number of times I had a grilled cheese, salad, and wild cherry pepsi for lunch in October = 5.
9. Number of taxidermist garages toured = 1.
10. Number of elders dumb enough to bet a beverage with me when we went bowling for pday = 2.
11. Number of elders who currently owe me a beverage because they lost = 2.  :) hahaha!
 
So get this, my district leader is Haitian and he also has a twin brother. Well this week he said. QUOTE - 
 "If my twin was a girl instead of a boy, it would have been you Sister Barfuss." Hahaha! I asked him why that was and he said, "I dunno. But I KNOW you would have been my twin sister if I had one." Niceeeeeee. Apparently I can pull off being part Haitian. :) haha! yeah right.
 
Pretty much mission life is starting to get weird... transfers area almost upon us again and one of the sisters in my district goes home. So basically, when she goes home, I'm the OLDEST one (mission wise and age wise) in our district. I'm starting to get old! It's weird to have my district leader be 18 and only out for 3 months, but man he does a good job! The Lord loves helping young people who are humble!
 
Super cool to hear that Sister Satterfield made it back home! That was just the craziest thing in the world! Was there anything in the box that surprised you!? Haha! My favorite thing in there is the poncho I bought :) it's so warm and ugly. I plan on wearing it camping every single time for the rest of my life!
 
Miracle from this week: We got a call from a member in another ward with a referral... yay! But this isn't just any referral. Turns out that there was a guy that was high (maybe drunk. both!?) that was driving this past week and he swerved off the road and hit a teenage boy and killed him in Spring Valley. The boy was just walking on the side walk minding his own business and now he is dead. They had the funeral on Saturday. The father of the boy wants a blessing and the member wants the missionaries to come over and teach the Plan of Salvation. Missionary work just got real, really quick didn't it? I have been thinking about this lesson and it brings me peace to know that what I am going to teach him and then testify to him about, is true. I know it is. He will see his son again and they can and will be sealed forever and ever. Powerful.
 
I love you with all my heart!
Sister Barfuss