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

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

 

"Thank you that I've almost been cured of diarrhea."

It Rained - time for the rain coat!

                                                      normal things you see in spring valley

                              our bishop is the bottom right one... in high school :) hahaha we laughed SO hard!

Mamas I love you so much. Can I just say that!? 

 

The weather has been rainy! Which is so weird for here! In the morning it's been about 55 and then during the day maybe 85. So basically we layer up and shed layers as the day goes. I've used my rain coat like twice now... i think it's rained 3 times in the 6 months I've been here! Hahaha but man, my coat is cute!

 

Sister Holly (the one you talked to in the mission office) called me and said "I just got off the phone with your mother..." and i thought someone died. Whew! That was a close one. So basically the card was already cancelled when i tried to use it but my mission debit card has enough that we're good. So no worries there! thank you for figuring that all out for me :)

 

Grandma is 87!? Whew!! and moo turned in her application to BYU!? DAAAANG. Life goes on even when you leave doesn't it!? Funny story about Taysom Hill. So all the oldies is my ward watch BYU football and they know i'm from Pocatello and went to BYU, so they all talk to me about it all the time! Then I told them that I went to high school with Taysom and they flipped! They always keep me posted and talk to me about the games... like i know ANYTHING about that kind of stuff right now! Hahaha!

 

 

So good to hear that you guys are working with people in the neighborhood :) YAY!! that's exactly what Heavenly Father expects of you and you answered Him! I'm telling you that simple obedience things like that make a WORLD of difference!

 

Has Sister Satterfield brought a delivery to you yet!? BECAUSE SHE AND I ENDED UP AT THE SAME FIRESIDE THIS WEEK!!! Here's the story... i was sitting in a fireside and this lady turns around and says "Oh sisters!! I love sisters!!" Then she told us she was from Pocatello,ID and I was like "Whaaaaaa!?" She saw my last name and asked if I was Scott's daughter! Bingo! So we talked forever and turns out she was here in Lemon Grove for a bit and decided to come to this fireside and was driving home the next day. So I went home and made up a box of stuff for her to take to you and she has it in her car right now as far as I know! So get pumped :)

 

This week we were sitting in a lesson with a couple in the 60s that are Less Active, and all the sudden this guy walks out of the back room and the dad says "Son. Don't you go out there and do anything stupid!! You hear me!?" The son was probably 30 or so and was tattooed up all over the place. He started getting all fired up and went hauling out the door. Well when he left, the dad told us that his son has been in some gang trouble and the gang comes to their house looking for him all the time... (uhhhhhhhh you mean the house we are in right NOW!?) So pretty much he told us that a gang member has probably already driven past looking at the house since we'd been there, On another evil note, this high school kid walked past us in the parking lot of the church and yelled "Hail satan!!!" It's a problem that a lot of the elders have around here, so it was weird when it happened to us. The world is evil and messed up. It needs the Savior, and it needs Him quick.

 

So your packy was to die for!!! Garments, skirts (which are SO cute and SO perfect and you SO made them!!), the tops that you sent were way cute, the hidden money, the sister sticky notes, the small Book of Mormon, and the smell goods!!! I was so happy my face was smiley all day! :D :D :D

 

Best line in a prayer this week: "Thank you that I've almost been cured of diarrhea."

 

This week a sister was playing the Christmas song in the Primary book called "Samuel's prophecy of Christ's birth" or something like that and I LOVED it. But I saw that it had 3 flats and I said NOPE! But then the Spirit said "Try it! Do it!" And I spent a lunch hour at the church practicing and I played it!!!! I love music. Mom, I'm soooooo sorry that I was a cheese head to you about the piano. I whined and cried and cried every single time. But I was wrong. You were right. Plus, because of the piano I can sing too! Tonight at Bible Study Sister Bodine and I are singing "How Great Thou Art" because we studied Psalm 8! Love that song.

 

I finally read moo's letter to rachel and nikki... yeah uhhh so good! Seriously that girl is amazing :) My favorite part was when she said "You know what, I'd rather be known for being honest and true then all of the other stuff." And then when she said "Sometimes choosing the right means that you get to hang out with your mom on Friday nights and guess what, that's not half bad!" :) She loves you so much mamas.

 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MAMAS!!

Just as an update... i've been praying for my desires and my mindsets to change (concerning  being focused on missionary work) and Heavenly Father has been helping me. I looked back at how "in control" I was a few months ago verses now, and it's certainly improved! So yet another example of the Atonement being an everyday strength that changes you dramatically over time if you stay consistent. :)

 

LOVES LOVES,

sister barfuss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edamame is a vegetable!!!!!!

this is  "Sal" we teach him in the mornings for practice :) haha

 a little taste of california :)

Edamame is a vegetable :) they are a kind of a bean! They are SO good!

I got a packy from Katelyn!!!!!!! It was so stinkin awesome! She hooked me up! I got candies and hand sanitizer and Popsicles and quotes and tissues and candies.  HOLLAHHHHH!! :D She knows where my heart lies :) That was really nice of her! And everything was YELLOW!

Super cool to hear about your experience with writing the  Christmas program... I LOVE those moments when you really feel like revelation is running through you! When Heavenly Father just gives you the words to speak. That has happened more now on my mission and it is a experience to treasure. Thank you also for your quote about satan and his tricks...( Pres. Uchtdorf - Priesthood Session - Oct 2013 " Satan’s purpose is to tempt us to exchange the priceless pearls of true happiness and eternal values for a fake plastic trinket that is merely an illusion and counterfeit of happiness and joy." I can't believe how filthy and terrible the world is.  Every once in a while we are in a situation where we are by a TV for a second or we hear music and I am just astounded by the crud in it. I really don't know how any of that is acceptable.

One thing I'm learning is that there is SO much more going on than I think there is... in every aspect of everything. Heavenly Father is involved in EVERYTHING! There is so much more depth to the gospel, if I will just let myself go deeper. There is always more to be had when it comes to our conversion.There is always more to be had. I want to go to the temple so bad right now... December 10th is the day!!

So here is the craziness of the week! I hit 6 months!! WHAT!? And then we had  transfers and our zone got split! We were the biggest zone in the mission, so they split us Spanish and English. With that came a lot of whitewashing and guess who ended up back in the same zone with me as our new zone leader!? Anyone remember Elder Weidner? Hahaha I almost died. Here I thought I was leaving all of my friends when I got transferred here but secretly they were going to follow me!! So pretty much the Sweetwater English Zone is going to be sick. Once again, Sister Bodine and I are the only full proselyting sisters... crazzzy.

 And just as a fun fact for the world... I thought in my mind of all of my new friends that I've met in Spring Valley and 90% of them are between the ages of 65-98! That's what I'm talking about :) We have a list of 16 widows we keep tabs on, it's been really good for me to learn about enjoying every minute of life.

I love YOU!!

Sister Barfuss

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

We're KEEPIN IT REAL this week!

Sister Marysa does a fantastic job of being positive and making the best of every thing. She has worked hard at bettering this strength........but like all us humans she has her challenges, and this week I decided if would be OK to share some of these challenges. Missions are HARD and it doesn't do anyone any favors (and there are many all over the world reading this blog) to pretend that missions are never challenging and only about the cool food, and scenery. So - here are some excerpts from some of Sis. Barfuss  letters........

This week I had enough of my headaches.  I started tracking them and found out that I had had one everyday for 2 weeks straight! I decided to ask the medical missionary for help.  I have only had one migraine since I've been here and I slept it off just fine,... honestly it's not like my headaches have gotten worse, I'm just sick and tired of them because they make me irritable and want to be lazy and you can't be lazy in the mission!!

I called the senior sister in charge of medical and asked her for help. She referred me to a local LDS doctor and said that I should give him a call. He asked me a bazillion questions and then made all the recommendations that I've heard before in my life that haven't helped much. Basically I thought it was a waste of time for the first 15 minutes of the phone call. He gave me a few assignments (like to drink a gallon of water a day - man, I've learned to love water this week). Just when I thought the conversation was over and I thought that I was going to have to live with my headaches for the rest of my mission, he asked me another question out of the blue, "What is holding you back Sister Barfuss?" 

.....Sorry what!? And then he asked me again. I was confused at first and he clarified. Then we had the most inspired conversation that I've had on my mission so far. I don't know how he knew that I was struggling with certain things, but he brought them all up and we talked it all out. He basically chastised me for not submitting my will to Heavenly Father fully and for not trusting Him with all my heart and mind. I bawled and bawled to him. We sorted through all the things that were holding me back and why, and then he said "Sister Barfuss, I have one more recommendation for you. Come home completely and utterly exhausted every single night. Get out of your car. Start walking. Let Heavenly Father hold all of your worries and your short comings, let Him! Give up your selfish will and enjoy His service every single day. Be proud of yourself.... And drink a gallon of water everyday!"

 He gave me the best pep talk of my life and he has never even spoken to me before. That's the Spirit right there. I'm a little embarrassed to say that Heavenly Father has often had to "strike" me to get me to listen, but this is one of those times. I spent the whole week working on handing things over and trusting... I'm still trying as we speak, but the little bit that I've been able to do has been wonderful. I feel at peace, and that's a wonderful feeling. So my invitation to you is to let your will be swallowed up in the Lord's. What exactly does that mean for you? Ask Him! He'll take care of you. I know it. He's taking care of me :)

I love you to pieces :) I love you so much!

Sister Barfuss

UPDATES

HEADACHES

I drank the gallon everyday and it seemed to help some! Well something worked!! Because I went three days without a headache (unreal for me!!) so that was nice. I'm going to see how it helps in the future

HOLDING ME BACK

 Honestly,  for the last 5 months I've been in a "grin and bear it" mentality. Missionary work is soooo hard and it's very difficult for me to be motivated ALL the time.  It's gotten to the point that I can't just "grin and bear it" anymore because it's too much. So essentially Doctor Todd talked to me about giving up my will to God and letting Him take some of the load. He talked to me about how I needed to stop trying to do what I wanted to be happy and to do the things that Heavenly Father wants me to do to be happy, because that's where true happiness lies. 

 I read some talks ("The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence Corbridge, was my favorite) and I found that my main problem is that I didn't trust Heavenly Father enough to give Him my will.( Just a side note... another hard thing about a mission is that you are stuck with yourself all day... for instance, before the mission I would watch tv or hang out with friends when I didn't want to do the things I needed to do , but on the mission you HAVE to live in your guilt). I found out that I was happy, but not truly happy, I was finding happiness in my relationships with missionaries and the fun we were having. So now I know why I got transferred out of north zone, I was "stuck" in my false happiness. Heavenly Father had to rip me away from all my friends, investigators, and ward members and throw me into a new area  to learn how to find happiness in Him. Trust me that everything is fine... but it's hard. 

So here we go!

 Missions are Beasts.