"brown dogs taste the best"

                                                                                                                                      9-30-14

FUN FACTS!

1. sister talatoka told me that it's really hard for her to remember when to say "chicken" or "kitchen" hahaha true story!

2. sister clayton had breast cancer surgery this last week and on Sunday the mission fasted for her. it was powerful. i LOVE her.

3. i had a guy tell me that i am "a robot religious missionary" but then proceeded to ask me what i was doing after the mission and if we could stay in touch...

4. corn dogs. THAT is what i'm craving right now.

5. "brown dogs taste the best" -quote someone this week. they were DEAD serious

6. so the way Fijian people refer to white people is a word called "palanga" so i get called that all the time hahaha

7. we were walking into the church this week and this little girl was in the way. i asked her to move to the side and she grabbed a piece of pizza and slammed it on my skirt and then wiped it up and down my shirt and arm...... UHHHHHHH...... i almost drop kicked the piece of pizza and found her mom.... but then i chose not to......

8. going to the Women's Broadcast without your mom and sisters on your mom's birthday is horrible. glad that's over with. 

9. when they announced that the YSA girl was going to give the prayer at the General Women's meeting i was like "YES!!!!! YSA YSA YSA!!!!!!" 

10. it was 67' this week. we were all freezing. hahahhahaha seriously though.

11. sunday was our long anticpated "Bring Your Friend to Church Day"!! it was awesome! 8 nonmembers came :)

SOMETIMES YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSING DORK FACTS:

1. at this "Bring Your Friend Day" i was in charge of the whole 3rd hour and i was up there talking when i realized i forgot to get an opening prayer. so i asked sister talatoka! then at the end i realized i didn't get a closing prayer and i asked sister talatoka! *FACE PALM* i didn't realized it until later. sometimes you are an embarrassing dork and ask your companion to pray twice in one meeting

2. we needed a key to the church and i called the senior couple to get it at 7:15 AM thinking they were up. yeah they weren't and i woke them up. now i owe them "4 hours of slave labor" to make up for the lost sleep. sometimes you are an embarrassing dork and call senior people that are sleeping.

3. we played a game like musical chairs for FHE yesterday and our senior couple played. well i went for a chair that sister van alfen did and i TOTALLY knocked her to the ground... she is 70 something! her husband had a camera in his hand and took pictures and then announced "that will be 8 hours of slave labor for you now!!!!!!" ohhhhhh my. i almost died i was so embarrassed. sometimes you are an embarrassing dork and knock down old ladies.

(the van alfens go home the same day as me, so they said i can come to their house in Utah and do my slave labor hahaha)

UPDATE: elder van alfen JUST texted me and said, "I'm bringing janet home from the hospital now. She can get by with neck brace to take the pressure off the cracked vertebrae if she is careful. We had to taker her to the ER around 2:00 AM." (he is sooooo messing with me!)   I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN!!!! he is mr.jokester hahahaha

volunteered at the Poway Rodeo this week!! it was the best thing ever because sister landeen and i found the service about 5 months ago! i can't believe i'm still in Poway! it was funny to see most of the missionaries hate the smell of horse poo and not want to touch the straw bails. we all grow up different places right?? haha

this week i've been super impressed with how much the people we get to teach strengthen MY testimony.

 it is such a blessing to be a missionary in poway right now.

 i love my life.

 i love my companion.

 i love my ward. i love the weather

. i love palm trees.

 i love my supportive family.

i just want to say thank you :) thank you for helping me get to this point in my life.

"It is good, oh so good."

love,

sister barfuss

Volunteering at the Rodeo

My Zone

FUN FACTS!:                                                                                                                         9-23-14

1. after transfer meeting, president interviewed my new companion after everyone had left.... meaning i was ALL alone for the first time in *17 months.* in the past there have always been other missionaries around when president was interviewing my companion, but not this time... IT WAS SO WEIRD... like i was totally and completely alone. so what did i do? i flopped over on the couch and closed my eyes and wept at the beautiful silence. talk about the most crystal clear 15 minutes of my life. so weird.

2. my new companion is Sister Talatoka from Fiji (and more specifically Kiribati like sister bauro crazy huh!!!??) she's from the temple square mission and will be here for 2 transfers, been out 10 months, is 22, i'm her first American companion, she calls me "compy" hahaha, cooks me breakfast every morning, and it so dang cute. just look at the pictures! i'm for reals a foot taller than here. yessssss.

3. the Romeros (new family we live with) are Mexican and Chilean, so they made us arroz con leche this week. ahhhh yeah. i LOOOOVE mexican anything!!

4. had a little kid run past me and say "LIZARDS DO PUSH UPS!!!" it's true though. there is this super weird lizard over here that does push ups when it needs something to do. i have a video i'll show you one day.

5. had my last zone conference yesterday and we watched Meet the Mormons! I loved it!! they made me bear my "departing testimony" :( i bawled through the whole dang thing

6. the Romeros said they like me because "you're the only white person that likes seafood" hahahahahaha I love that i'm the minority now... it's fun :)

i had a super spiritual day yesterday - and have since asked for "more spiritual eyes" ..........

today I had this experience.... it was WAY foggy this morning and as soon as the sun came up it burned it all off. spiritual side to that? when the Son comes into our lives He burns off the fog that may be causing distraction or pain. It's so refreshing to see things clearly and completely!

next example.... we were doing laundry this morning and the mom in the house was teaching Joy School and it hit me that I AM A JOY SCHOOL STUDENT in Heavenly Father's class. I mean come on, the things she was teaching them were so basic, like the letter C. But they have to draw 1,000 Cs before they get it perfect. Isn't that how it is with scripture study and prayer? or listening to the Holy Ghost? we are just at the beginning of all the knowledge and lessons that Heavenly Father has for us, but we have to get good at the basics before. line upon line anyone? man. earth life truly is a reflection of everything in the eternities.

.

 i love the gospel.

 i know it's true. it's true because it makes simple sense to my simple mind.

 i love the Book of Mormon. oh my goodness... i LOOOOVE the Book of Mormon.

 that's how I know who Christ is and that He is divine.

 I have LOVED reading the Bible and Book of Mormon at the same time to teach me the character of Christ.

 He is real. 

He is there. 

He loves me.

i loooooooove you.

 FLAP FLAP FLAP. FLAPJACK!! :)

-sister barfuss