"that was the first time i've ever seen a horse. the only horse i've ever seen was in a movie."

You guys are killin' me! You had a Saltine Challenge for FHE!? that's so awesome! :D (Saltine Challenge = seeing if you can eat 6 crackers in a minutes - it's impossible!  Try it!) I miss you guys like crazy. Please continue to be cool like that when I come back okay!? and I totally think there is a homeless person in the house next door to you! I won't lie, I see so many homeless people now days that it's not out of the ordinary anymore! . maybe a cutie will move in for moomoo :)  I think they have a homeless person sneaking in at night to sleep.....creepy. (Our Neighbors moved out a few years ago and have been renting their house ever since.  Now it is empty as the last group "broke up" and moved out.  Each morning I pull up the blind over the sink in the kitchen  and some mornings the basement blind at the neighbors is up, and some mornings it's down.........)

 

A couple of weeks ago a less active mom that we are teaching and  her 5 kids told us they are moving (and it's because she is spending the rent money on drugs!!) So that means the kids don't get to be taught by us anymore because of drugs.... I was SO mad. I cried and cried and cried. It was right after our stake conference. We talked with a few people and the main thing they all told me was that we have to trust that Heavenly Father is going to take care of those kids no matter where their mom makes them go. I didn't like that answer, but now I do. Trusting the Lord can take a lot of trust!! haha you know what I mean.. It is so much easier to live your life keeping the commandments. But you're right, the atonement is infinite. Thank goodness for Christ and His perfect, giving, patient, and loving self. I love Christ with all my heart and I  think President Monson said it best, "it's all going to work out."

  I believe him.

 

FUN FACTS:

1. we went to SDSU's campus because sister bauro was getting some help with applying to BYU-Hawaii. It was so weird to be in a college environment. I had to get out of there quick because it was a perfect place to get TRUUUUUNKY!!

2. We ended up in down town this week and saw the Padre's stadium! It was HUGE! I'm totally going there one day! (hey dad, let's go to a game some day yeah!? okay cool!)

3. there are these giant packs (a tribe? a gaggle??) of wild green parrots that fly around here and if you close your eyes and listen to them it sounds like you are in Jurassic Park! It's so freaky!

4. I tried almond milk! the unsweetened kind only has 30 calories and NO sugar! yay!

5. You know "The District" show about missionaries in San Diego? It was filmed in the zone right below me. I could walk to the houses they film it in if I wanted to!

6. Someone told me this week that they would love to have me as their "drunk buddy." That is the second time I've heard that! don't drink! it does nothing good for you!

7. We drove past a guy on a horse this week and I freaked out and said "Look! It's Idaho!!! LOOK!!!!!" then Sister Bauro turned to me and said "that was the first time i've ever seen a horse. the only horse i've ever seen was on a movie." You better believe I pulled a U-turn and drove past really slow so she could look at it again!! 

8. speaking of Idaho... a lady asked me where i was from and I told her Idaho. her response was "you look like you're from Idaho." WHAT THE HECK does that mean?

9. Remember my raccoon friend? Well I saw him again, so I decided to name him Raquel the Raccoon! but then we left for church on Sunday morning and he was laying in the road all gory and deathly. It was a bummer day... i lost the only pet racoon i've ever had!

10. The movie about the missionaries that got kid napped in Russia is playing down here! Don't get any ideas you creepers.....

11. I called a former investigator from 2001 (I was 8 when missionaries first taught him) and no one answered, so I left a message. Turns out a lady called us back and told us he was dead. AWKWARRRRD.

12. I met a lady that said she was a witch. She even has a crystal ball. It was kinda different.

13. I needed some new tennis shoes, so we went to the mall and pulled a fast one, check it out... we went to the "kids foot locker" and got their biggest size of the shoe I wanted. It ended up being a size 7 in kids, which is a 9 in womens! the same pair was $49 in that store, but $110 (ON SALE!!) at the adult foot locker. I thank sister martin for that idea. BOOYAH!!!

 

well I hope that February will be merry and bright :) I'm excited to be single for another Valentines Day! (that makes 20 straight!) New world record!!

love love love you!

sister barfuss

Do you want to get married to me, right now?

 She's NINE MONTHS ALONG!!!!

You are right, Grandpa Ted passed away Sunday night at 11:39. Here are the blessing we've seen with him this week... we went over on Sunday morning before stake conference to see him and he looked terrible. And I mean it, TERRIBLE. We felt so bad! Sister Martin said he looked like a holocaust victim and i agree. It was getting pretty bad. But when we came over he perked up for a second and said hi! He mumbled a bunch, but we could understand a few things! They told us that after he talked to us he slept for the rest of the day and then he died that night peacefully. What's crazy is that Sister Martin texted us at midnight to tell us, but our phone never got it. When we went the next morning we walked in and his room was empty and our hearts dropped. We took a minute to cry, but then we took an hour to tell all of our favorite memories. 

One of my favorites was someone  said whenever they have "orange cheeto fingers" or when they see massage chairs they think of Grandpa :) hehe! I took a "orange cheeto finger" picture this week! They are having a memorial in two weeks and we'll still be here. The next transfer isn't until February 18th. I'll take Sister Bauro to the airport that day. 

We're all a little sad, but it's just because we loved having him around! He was so funny and he was literally one of my top 5 best friends that I have right now. Man, I love him. But we keep on keepin' on right!? Grandpa is with his mom that he never met and his wife, and siblings (he used to always ask us how he would recognize his mom when he died and i told him he would know it was her because she was going to be waiting there to attack him with a huge hug!!) so there's a party going on somewhere :)

Fun Facts:

1. On my run one morning i looked over and a raccoon was jogging next to me in the grass! I said "Heyyyyy now... you stay over there mister!!"

2. It's been hot here! Like 93 baby! We drove past the high school one afternoon and there was a swim meet going on! Hahaha!

3. This week we met a lady and she was straight up racist to me. It was the weirdest thing. My favorite line of her's was "You're white... Is your favorite food hamburgers?" Come on lady. I told her that I hadn't even had a hamburger this whole month. BOOM!

4. We had district meeting on my 9 month mark this week and my district leader said "Hey! This is a special day for me too! It's me and my girlfriends 23 month mark!!" Bahahaha! I might have teased him for a bit. it was awesome.

5. I met my very first real live Jehovah's Witness. I asked her sooo many questions. Turns out that when they saw "Jehovah" they are talking about God, not Christ. Thought that was an interesting thing. Her concept of the Holy Ghost was a little different too. But we agreed on quite a few things. I still don't understand the only 144,000 in heaven thing... i don't think she understood it either because she was dodging all my questions.

6. finished "Jesus the Christ" this week. ALL 800 pages :) i know moomoo will be proud of me! Haha!

7. I ate fried squid this week. a little chewy if you ask me.

8. i ironed one of my skirts for the first time in 9 months... and it was a complete waste. Never doing that again. NOT WORTH IT!! haha

9. At stake conference they announced that all of California will be fasting for rain the first week in February. We need some rain! Stake conference was in three languages this time! Spanish, English, and ASL!

WHAT IN THE WORLD?? MOMENTS...

--Remember how I used to serve in La Jolla? Turns out that means "the jewel." Well now I serve next to La Mesa and El Cajon and they mean "the table" and "the box." I have obviously downgraded a tad. Hahaha! Nah, I love it here!

--We have an investigator that really thinks I'm crazy (which i think is so funny because I'm not, but whatever). She was feeling a little down and she said "You gotta keep the faith, keep truckin', and spread the word!" Then she stopped and said "that would make a great tatoo! you could totally pull it off sister barfuss!" bahahaha oh man people......

--We went to contact a referral this week and the next door neighbor came out and started asking questions. He was super tall, all tattooed up, he was chewing tobacco and spitting it in his coke bottle, he told us he was an ex-gang member, and just got out of jail, but he was eating up everything we were saying. We could not believe this guy! After 15 minutes he asked us for our card and we gave him one. Then he said "I need one with your number on it" while he was looking at me. I felt a little weird and then he said "Do you want to get married!?" I told him that yes, getting married was a goal for my future life, but then he corrected himself and said "No! I mean do you want to get married to me, right now?"

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........  *awkward pause* Here's the quickest thing my mind could muster... 

well we've only known each other for 5 minutes, shouldn't we at least know each other for 5 hours!?" bahahahaha nice save sister barfuss!!

He asked for our number again and Sister Bauro was so mad when I pulled out my pen, but secretly I changed the last number. Hopefully that doesn't keep me out of heaven. And then we walked with haste to our car and then we drove with haste to a different location :) hahahaha Not going back there ever again.

We had stake conference and it was a satellite broadcast! We were so lucky to have Sister Burton, Elder Anderson, and President Eyring. Let's just say I walked away fed! The Saturday night session was amazing too. My favorite part was a quote a speaker used from President Hinckley...

"You can't plow a field by simply turning it over in your mind!" Well amen to that President Hinckley. I'm finding that the solution to all of my worries, annoyances, short comings, and sadness it instantly resolved by getting my tush out the door and finding someone to talk to. When I talk to other people I can't think about my own stuff, just theirs and it's awesome.

 "So wake up and do something more, than dream of your mansion above!"

Wasn't this the weirdest week of my mission so far? yeah. it totally was.

LOVE YOU!!

sister barfuss

a guy asked the bishop to do an exorcism. the bishop politely declined.

 Grandma literally emails me every week, sometimes twice! so I send her an email or a letter back every week. She might be bored :) haha I love her.

 

Keep me posted on all the drama of the new ward boundaries... us mormons... we freak out about everything.... drama drama drama... don't tell anyone (but I think I like change. it's REALLY good for me). shhhhh.... don't tell anyone :)

I got a Christmas letter from Dad and the Stake Presidency :) haha President Campbell drew a funny picture by his signature... I love that my letter got a whole bunch of graffiti on it! :) Makes me feel loved.

FUNNY STORY: One morning i woke up and i was trying to find my ear plugs because they end up at the bottom of my bed every morning. Well i could only find one, so i said "whatever. ill find it later in life." We went and exercised and everything and when we came back i was stretching... i felt something squishy. I looked down my garment top and BAM there the ear plug was just chilling by my belly button! hahahaha (for the record - as Marysa's mother, sometimes I can't believe what I put on her blog!)

This week I have solidified my testimony that sugar is what gives me headaches... on Friday i was kinda a little frustrated with a few things and slightly irritable (hehe) and a member brought us subway and a million and a half cookies. I saw them and said, "HECK!!! I'M GOING TO EAT FIVE! I WANT TO EAT SUGAR!!!!!!" I literally ate five of them like a little miss piggy. And guess what!? I got a migraine on Sunday and I was on my bed crying. My head rarely hurts THAT bad. But I had a straight up migraine. So now I'm sold that sugar is the trigger. But on the upside, i didn't get a headache all week up until then, so yay!! Yay for answers!

FUN FACTS:

1. there are 481 people in our ward. 115 of them are active. we have a lot of work to do.

2. did you know that when you smell a skunk sometimes it's not a skunk? it's people smoking weed. 

3. want to know what the worst job in the world would be in california? being a UPS truck driver because all of the streets are cut up into crazy little parts but they have the same name and house numbers are where ever they want to be and you can hardly ever find them... guess what i just realized... WE DRIVE around california all day trying to find streets and houses :) hahaha

4. right now we are helping a returned missionary come back to the gospel. it's an interesting thing.

the church is true!

5. on sundays homeless people come into the church looking for help a lot and this week a guy asked the bishop to do an exorcism. the bishop politely declined. 

6. i paid more of a fast offering this month and BAM! we got a $12.00 raise on our debit cards this month! and a member gave us some toilet paper and paper towels! woohoo!!!! the church is true! live the principles, show faith, and watch the blessings pour in! :D

7. today i was in the car and i literally heard this come out of my companions mouth while she pointed off one direction... "at red raptor we had crap." Whaaaat theeee? turns out she said "at red lobster we had crab." Hahaha! sometimes the accent still morphs things in my ears. 

8. i hit 9 months this week. no biggie. 

Update on grandpa ted... he took a turn for the worst this weekend. We saw him this morning and he looked really bad. The nurse said he has about a week. So we fed him some cherry coke and tapioca while we was laying in his bed. He's really confused and weak. The nurse said that pretty soon he'll start talking to people we don't see (so cool if you really think about it! angels!). I can't even believe that he got baptized 2 months ago! 2!! Heavenly Father was so in charge of that whole thing! Here's a little funny... i actually owe grandpa $26.00 because we had to use his card at costco Haha! I gave Sister Martin the money, not sure if grandpa will ever use that money himself... maybe i could buy him some more cherry coke or something. 

Today sister martin took us to "Bennihanas." It's a Japanese food place where they make the food on the hot table in front of you! They do tricks and throw things and the whole shabang! :D it was so much fun! Now we're going to play some sports with the elders and then go to Bible Study tonight! Life is good! I forgot my camera cable so I don't have any pictures, unless i can steal one from an elder... i'll see what i can do!

LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!

sister barfuss

ps- i sent todd a bday package with a whole bunch of super right wing bumper stickers and stuff :) hahaha he'll hate it! oh and some candy :)

This is Sis. Barfuss' message Everyday !

God's purpose is to bless us and to help us and give us every opportunity to receive the blessings he has in store for us.  

• We believe that we lived as spirit children of God before we were born and that when we die life will go on.There will be learning and progression in the life to come.
• We believe that going to the temple is a blessing and a benefit for us not only because of what happens when we are there but what happens after we leave the temple and go back to our normal life.  
• We believe that God expects is to live life in a good Christian way with love and kindness to others. 
• When we leave the temple we go back to our homes and go back to work and back to our neighborhoods where there are opportunities to love others, to do service, to be honest, to be good citizens and to be good neighbors.  We should leave the temple a better person - more likely to make wise and righteous choices.

there aren't any guns in Kiribati. whoa.

 what's the deal with everybody from pocatello marrying people from pocatello? pretty soon the new babies are going to have 12 toes if we're not careful!

can i just say that i love the closing little quote thing you did. all about UP!

okay so transfer calls were today and i'll be staying in spring valley another 6 weeks! sister bauro is too, so that means ill be "killing her." ill take her to the airport and everything... so that means things are going to be getting even more TRUNKY around here. that's a interesting challenge for sister barfuss... it is EXTREMELY difficult for me to not think about home. so i'll be working on that for the next weeks. 

FUN FACTS:

1. I had gumbo with a southern baptist this week. it was GOOD!

2. played flickerball for pday last week and it was my favorite thing in the whole world! it's a mix of basketball, football, and frisbee!

3. we were teaching a lesson on a doorstep in one of the scary parts of our area this week and we heard 2 gun shots... not lying. the man we were teaching said "yeah, you guys should be careful around here." uhhhhhhhhhhhh....

4. did you know that sister bauro had never seen a gun until she came to america? there aren't any guns in Kiribati. whoa.

5. sister bauro and i study english every morning for an hour. grammar is the hardest to teach, i feel like an terrible english teacher sometimes! saying the word "verily" is almost impossible for her. Rs are hard, Ls are hard, and the word "air" is way tough... therefore "verily" is bad news! she's a good sport though!

6. i got another cold this week! like what the heck!? i got a flu shot and i take vitamins. but whatever. that's two for me since i got to spring valley! i slept at least 30 hours in the last 2 days! ohhhhhhh yeahhh!!!

7. old drunk men yell at us in spanish sometimes and i always say in my head "you should be grateful i don't speak spanish!!" but then the Lord reminds me to be more Christlike :) haha

8. when i was sick i made my own fresh squeezed orange juice! it was yummy! i even put it in the blender and made it "flerpy" like grandma barfuss does! it was aweZome

9. my license expires on my birthday... just a heads up on that one :) heh

and here's a miracle for ya :) so we added an investigator on Saturday! at 6:30 that night we went to jack in the box to grab dinner really fast and as soon as we pulled up to order she got off a bus that pulled up on the road right next to us! so sister bauro yelled for her and we pulled out and bought her a burger! we learned all about her and she ended up saying that she got off the bus here because she "needed to go to the bathroom." turns out she usually stays on the bus for a few more stops... do you think the Heavenly Father wants us to talk to her? UH YEAH. :) MIRACLE. 

i love you mamas!!

sister barfuss