"someone could have mentioned that i needed to bring a towel......"

      Sis. Barfuss and her companion Sis. Talatoka from Kiribati

                                                      
                                          This is Sis. Barfuss' last email!  

She will return on Oct. 28th and we'll meet her at the SLC airport at 1pm. 

She will speak on Nov. 9th @ 8:30 AM at the Fairway Bldg.(2000 S. Fairway) 

You're ALL invited to hear her speak! Please come to the house for nourishment after if you are traveling - we 'd love to feed you.

Part of our last email to Sis. Marysa

The experience of being a parent to a missionary could not have been more exciting, more enlightening and I really don’t think I’ll ever learn more or consider more in an 18 month period again.  All of these things are because of you and the way you have totally embraced this experience, kept it real and worked with the energy of the Energizer Bunny. 

Thank You!

We Love You

 We Are So Proud Of You

We Look forward to supporting you through the next steps of your life!

Mom and Dad

                                       --------------------------------------------------------------

BAHHHHHHHH this is weird. i feel weird. this is weird. WELL i'll just email you like normal :)

FUN FACTS:                                                            10-21-14

1. i declare no signs are allowed at the airport. no signs. no balloons. no foofoo. i just want someone to record it so i can bawl every time i watch it for the rest of my life :) 

2. i got the packy (package) from moomoo and katelyn!! i was so happy. a new shirt! the game day shirt! food! a fake hand! i love you two!

3. moo told me about how another person called her marysa... i think it's funny because "marysa" doesn't even exist. only sister barfuss and emily.... hahaha!

4. i hit 18 months this week. that was weird. 

5. i TOTALLY wore the same outfit two days in a row this week HAHA! no one even noticed (probably)

6. can i have a dentist appointment ASAP? thank you. 

7. this week we have had PERFECT weather. like PERFECT. 75 all day everyday. why am i leaving san diego again???

8. kaitlyn's baptism was LOVELY!!! the best part was when she came out and said "someone could have mentioned that i needed to bring a towel......" hahhahaa love her!

9. sang in the Mission President's fireside and it was SO fun! i love singing. I LOVE SINGING. the best part is that a recent convert from Iraq bore his testimony in Arabic. THAT was something i will never forget. 

10. speaking of that fireside... i swear on my life that Todd (her brother-in-law) was there. i looked out in to the crowd and saw him!! i was staring at him the WHOLE time thinking "how did he know i was here?? will he come up to me after??" turns out he didn't come up and talk to me... or it wasn't him   #brotherinlawstalker

11. well it's Red Ribbon Week for the schools around here and all week i've been singing "D. i won't so drugs. A. won't have an attitude. R. i will respect myself. E. i will educate me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"(D.A.R.E.) 6th grade was a good year for me.

12. this is my last fun fact ever :( SADDDDD FAAACE. happy face for having so many fun facts in the past :D

THANK YOUS:

1. to my mamas for saying "don't trip down the escalator!!!" (at the airport) hahaha 

YOU ARE amazing mamas 

2. to Heavenly Father for making me wait 6 months to go on a mission because the last 6 months of my mission have been THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!

3. the San Diego Temple for existing. i LOVE that place with all my heart. 

4. to katelyn for helping me remember how we all missed Brennan getting off the plane...(ask Katelyn for the deets on that!) NO INSTANT REPLAY ON THAT ONE!!

5. to brennan for helping me remember how grateful i am that i can sit comfortably with out a donut under my bum ;) (ask Brennan for the deets on that one)

6. to moomoos who has graciously said she will babysit me on Halloween this year because I'm going to be SUPER awkward and will need a babysitter

7. to my daddys who always builds me up and helps me remember that i am his favorite middle daughter :)

8. to grandma preece who has written me faithfully and always been there to help me smile

9. to my other family members who send me fun update emails and help me feel included

10. to my friends that all got married, had children, and graduated from college while i was gone ;)

11. and then lastly... to the people i have met in San Diego that have honestly become my family. they are everything to me!

OKAY NOW I'M GOING TO CRY GOSH DANG IT... 

-My mission has been one giant expression of Heavenly Father's love for me. 

 every single day i have been blessed by an experience or a person. most of the time it was both. 

-I know He loves me :) I know He has a plan for me that will lead to REAL happiness (joy). I have had moments where i wondered if that was true, and guess what, that's normal. 

-Faith is something that has to be fed everyday. You can only coast down hill. The strait and narrow path isn't flat. 

- I'm so blessed to be in San Diego. I mean seriously. This city is paradise. 

-My mission was just one big gift to me disguised as service to others. 

-Heavenly Father loves me and so does Christ. He is my Savior. I am nothing with out Him. He understands me. He gets me. We are a dream team together. 

-I love the Book of Mormon. There have been many points in my life where my testimony has been challenged to the extreme... i found that keeping it strongly rooted in the Book of Mormon was the way to go. I know it's true. Because of that, Christ is divine.

This hymn has changed my life.

 #195

 How Great the Wisdom and the Love

1. 1. How great the wisdom and the love
   That filled the courts on high
   And sent the Savior from above
   To suffer, bleed, and die!
2. 2. His precious blood he freely spilt;
   His life he freely gave,
   A sinless sacrifice for guilt,
   A dying world to save.
3. 3. By strict obedience Jesus won
   The prize with glory rife:
   "Thy will, O God, not mine be done,"
   Adorned his mortal life.
4. 4. He marked the path and led the way,
   And ev'ry point defines
   To light and life and endless day
   Where God's full presence shines.
5. 5. In mem'ry of the broken flesh
   We eat the broken bread
   And witness with the cup, afresh,
   Our faith in Christ, our Head.
6. 6. How great, how glorious, how complete
   Redemption's grand design,
   Where justice, love, and mercy meet
   In harmony divine!

That is the only way to sum it up. 

I love the gospel. It's true. 

i love you. thank you for loving me :)

Sister Barfuss

i'm so tired. my retinas are going to burst

How our YSA Branch watched conference - complete with breakfast!

 My Bishop and his wife

 Me and Sis. Talatoka

FUN FACTS:          10-14-14

1. Went on an exchange with a sister from Thailand and for lunch we had Tofu and seaweed soup and a glass of carrot juice. yummmmm..

2. We have a recent convert in the ward that just flew home to South Africa and she was telling us that people in SD have asked things like "do the lions just roam around in the street there??" her reply is "yes. i get my spear out every day after school to go find some dinner!!" hahaha NO PEOPLE!

3. I'm singing in a fireside next week with the sisters going home with me. we're singing Secret Prayer a capella with the Ukelele. so sick.

4. we were doing a human pyramid with the sisters in our ward at a relief society party and the Bishop's dog came up behind me and started licking my face! so naturally i defended myself with my arm, but then the whole pyramid came crashing down! hahahah

5. this week i had to teach my companion what drugs were and how to people do them... it was funny

6. we TOTALLY had dinner with our non member neighbors because of a simple conversation we were having about their Halloween decorations. it was amazing!

7. secretly i really don't like Halloween. same thing happened last year. it's too evil and creepy.

8. elder van alfen calls sister talatoka "sister tapioca" because he can't remember her name hahhahaha #oldmen

9. our neighbor is selling their house through "panda reality" yeahhhhhh.... i'm sure that's a REAL company

10. was talking with someone who said they were "HDTV" instead of saying "ADHD"

11. sat down in a home this week and the first thing said from the person we were there to talk to was "SHOW ME YOUR GARMENTS!!" we politely declined. moving on to the restoration now.......

13. guess what. i think i'm getting intolerant to milk. like seriously. it makes me feel SUPER gross. i'm soooooo sad. i used to LOVE milk. not so much anymore.

 

kaitlyn's baptism is this saturday!!! want to hear a crazy story?? well she went to Utah for conference and while she and the family she went with were there they went to Mr.Mac to get a suit. naturally Elder Holland was in the store (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and they went up and said hi. the members told him that she was getting baptized in a few weeks and he said "this is the best decision you've ever made in your life." like come on..... SHE MET ELDER HOLLAND!!!!! she is so ready.  I ALMOST DIED WHEN SHE TOLD US THIS STORY.

okay and then later in the week we talked to the family history specialist in our ward about how to help our recent converts take family names to the temple. in the process i started thinking "man. can i look at my family history for a sec?" so i looked and found temple work that needed to be done in a matter of 2 minutes!! I GOT BIT BY THE FAMILY HISTORY BUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO HOOKED. I reserved a few names and the one that i think is most special is one i found on the Barfuss side... so my great grandparents have one son that is not sealed to them yet for some reason. i reserved it and i can stand in as my great grandmother having her last son sealed to her.... I'm so excited to do the work! we'll go to the IF temple as soon as i get back and do it okay dad and mamas??? :) :)

well just so you know i'm still in complete denial that i have two weeks left. today just feels like another day in the life of sister barfuss. doo dee dah dee doo.

so don't be worried about me :) haha life is goooooooooooooood

i pretty much had one of the BEST weeks of my mission this week. it was WONDERFUL. 4 straight days of CRAZY miracles. for reals.

i looooove you!!

sister barfuss

FUN FACTS!        10-7-14

Good lanta I'm pooped. we went to Coronado and rented the 6 person bikes and shoved 8 people on them. My legs are shot and my head is crankin!! But, emailing is the best!

 

1. Met some ladies in Walmart and they told us they were speaking Cebuano!! I was like "CALL MY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!"

2. I have lived with 29 people in my life... 5 family members, 8 companions, and 16 roommates. I'VE SEEN IT ALL MY FRIENDS!!!

3. someone took us out to Outback Steakhouse and i got Salmon. oh good glory it was amazing. I looooove salmon. #favoriteanimal

4. the Blue Angels did an airshow in our stake this week. it was so crazy!!! we would be driving down the 15 and 5 planes come HAULING right over our heads!!

5. so you know how at General Conference they had languages!? that's how church is down here! parts of stake conference are in Spanish with English translators

6. this week i literally said "WHY IS THAT CHICKEN CROSSING THE ROAD!!!??" hahahhaha there was a chicken that was doing it's thing right in the middle of our road! GET OUT OF THE WAY! turn you into fried chicken.......

7. well for the last few months i've been bragging about BYU and Taysom Hill being from Pocatello... so what happened when BYU got stomped and Taysom broke his leg?? I GOT A BUNCH OF TEXTS FROM PEOPLE RUBBING IT IN MY FACE.

8. Music and The Spoken Word's pictures and video clips made everyone in our zone "seasons trunky"  We all want a Fall super bad hahaha!

9. every year the sun moves right in front of the satellite and we lose conference for a few minutes... it's too dang sunny in san diego!

10. HAPPY BIRHTDAY TO MY SWEET MOOMOO IN P-TOWN! stay classy.

 

my favorite silly quote from conference was when Elder Cook said that it's not appropriate to be on the internet "anonymously yacking"

pretty sure yacking is my favorite word and i do it ALLLLL day.

 

i'm so tired.

my retinas are going to burst.

i gotta stop.

i still love you even though my email is lame.

 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

sister barfuss

 

#yackyack