"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

 

"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

 

if you're not willing to wear your heart on your sleeve, you're not living life to the fullest

FUN FACTS:                                                                                                                           9-16-14

1. I will be spending my last transfer in...... Poway!! My companion is going to be from the Temple Square mission! (they spend 2 transfers out of their mission in the states somewhere... she'll probably be foreign. i'll pick her up tomorrow)

2. it has literally been in the 100s all week. certain death is upon me. AC on full blast. always. 

3. took a sister to the airport today where her family picked her up. she saw them and flew out of the car and was screaming and jumping up and down all over them... it made me cry. it was so tender.

4. last pday we slack lined... it's like tightrope walking but not quite as intense... but still intense... IT WAS SO FUN. look at our pictures.

5. pretty sure we broke the word of wisdom on accident this week. i'm 99% sure we had iced tea. hahaha i was ticked because i've been clean off of caffeine for my headches for 4 months now! broke my record... maybe

6. i ate a donut this week and it seriously knocked me out into a migraine. dude. a DONUT. it was the worst. 

7. one of our investigators is getting baptized on October 18th!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is dating a guy in our ward :) she is so lovely. one time in  between visits with us she decided to read Alma 1-34 in one sitting. whew!!

8. rode on a golf cart this week. BEST THING OF MY LIFE. i was screaming and yelling even though the guy was only going like 5 mph

9. so we had stake conference and the Schmitt's were on the program... they walked in the door and Sister Schmitt came right up to us freaking out because she had forgotten her name tag hahaha i gave her mine and she put it on, but President Schmitt said that it would cause too many questions... she reluctantly gave it back to me hahaha

10. more fun facts on stake conference... we pulled up and there was a sign with a guy next to it that said "the stake center is 30% full" the guy was in the process of changing it to 40%... go! go! go! get in there!!!

11. the joke that they told right before sister landeen and i went on stage for the talent show was "the other day i farted on the elevator, it was wrong on so many levels." COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!!!!

12. i destroyed my pinky playing football. good thing i type incorrectly, or typing right now would stink hehehehe

13. we moved 5 people this week. #movingcarmawillcomebacktomeoneday

okay so basically i haven't spent any time setting goals for the next 6 weeks (yet)... that will happen this week. i'll keep you posted on it next email. 

i know the gist of what i want to do... overcome my fears of just a last few things. throughout the mission i've been able to get rid of most of them, but there are just a few left that i want to stomp on and come out victorious!! also, NO REGRETS. seriously though.

FOR NARNIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love you :) i miss you too.

i love you more :)

i love you the most :)

-sister barfuss

FUN FACTS:                                                                                                                                9-09-14

1. why do we call silly things "cheesy" and "corny"? that's how you describe your dinner!

2. i totally blew over a traffic cone this week. i laughed so hard :)

3. i counted. i have up and moved everything I own 11 times in my life. 10 of them have been in the last 3 years. 

4. 8 stakes border our area. 2 different missions border our area. OUR AREA IS HUGE.

5. talked with someone who was growing marijuana in their garage

6. baby blessings are amazing. did mine get written down? sorry about not writing it down myself ;) i was lazy back then

7. we had a member of The Seventy come for mission leadership council and EVERYBODY thought we were going to get iPads. BONK. 

8. i found another Murdoch cousin. that's TWO people i've met on my mission that are descendants of Wee Granny like me! :D

9. BYU IS RANKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pretty much every person in my ward hates on BYU so i have to be a lone cougar in the wilderness

10. the ward had a talent show for FHE and sister landeen played the guitar and sang while i sang and played the uke. i felt so silly

11. we had a investigator that wanted to sing in the talent show so we had to send a text that said " We would love to have you sing!! But you can't sing anything super loud and rocky or anything that talks about drugs and sex." hahaha really though

12. brother quiggle's sister died and we had her funeral this week. after they had tons of HUGE flower arrangements and sister quiggle asked us to make them into smaller bouquets for people. i channeled my inner "mama barfuss" :) i'm so grateful you taught me how to do lots of random things mom :)

13. "deal with what you've been dealt" interesting huh?

well the lesson learned this week is that if you're not willing to wear your heart on your sleeve, you're not living life to the fullest. example... we had to move out of the quiggle's house and i just cried and cried and cried. honestly the have become my adopted parents and it felt like i was leaving on my mission all over again. it was terrible. like i was seriously sobbing in the shower and super mad. it hurts to love people a lot, BUT IT'S WORTH IT! if i had just chosen to live with the quiggles instead let them become part of my life, it wouldn't have hurt to leave. but then again, the last 5 months of my life would have been less rich and exciting. it's so worth it to wear your heart on your sleeve. 

i love you!! loves loves loves loves loves

sister barfuss

Yell "DING DONG!" (really loud)

  Map of all the places Sis. Barfuss has traveled.

 Marysa's new "Granny Flat"

FUN FACTS:                                                                       9-2-14             

1. we have this plastic black lizard that we throw into the fan at night and watch it get slammed into the wall. his name is blizzard (get it? black lizard??) kind of reminds me of when we used to put cheese on the fan as kids and let them fly off and stick to the walls :) does mom know that we did that?

2. last pday we played 3 on 3 volleyball on two courts and played tournament style. oh my lanta i was in heaven. my throat hurt the rest of the week from all my yelling. i slapped the floor a couple times too :) hehe

3. San Diego is the 8th largest city in the US

4. met an olympian this week! she threw the javelin. she pulled out a few of them for us to feel and throw. it was INTENSE. 

5. why are shower heads so low? like seriously. the average shower head height in san diego is 4'11" and uhhhhh i'm DEFINITELY taller than that. so i have to shower on my knees or do an "air chair"

6. since i go on lots of exchanges i get to try all the sisters different shampoo and conditioner. my favorite right now is Tresemme. ahhhh yeah.

7. i went on an exchange last week and the sisters lived on top of a liquor store... hahahaha

8. apparently it's Fall? i saw one leaf on the ground which indicated to me that it must be Fall. if i remember right, it usually gets colder in the Fall in other places right? hahahaha yeah, it's still 85 and 90 down here

9. i used a redish/pinkish can of suave hairspray this week and memories of mamas came FLOODING back to me instantly. it's weird how smells bring back memories!

10. this week i taught a lady that was Jewish. it was interesting. because usually people accept the God&Christ combo or they reject it all together. She totally believed in God but said that Jesus isn't the Christ and she is waiting for Christ to come again. Man, i sat there and thought and thought and then BAM!!! (hello the Book of Mormon sister barfuss!) it was cool to give her a copy of the BoM and testify to her that if she read it she would be able to see that Jesus really was/is the Christ

11. EVERY element of my testimony has been tried on my mission so far. seriously. i have had to double and triple pray/check/ponder about everything i have believed in the past and make sure i TRULY believe it. it's been a wonderful blessing to me. pretty hard too. 

12. came in the Quiggle's house on Friday and the BYU football game was on. my reaction "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" thank goodness we got the heck outta there.

13. did some service at a horse polo arena again and had to shovel horse poo. the ONLY TWO that would shovel it were the two missionaries from idaho. me and elder murdoch. the one that's related to me. 5th cousins??

14. brother quiggle got me and sister landeen a present for our new apartment! it was one of those "get your hair out of the drain" sticks with sharp hooks :) hahahaha we laughed so hard. 

well check this out... the last month we have been doing those MTE things where sister landeen and i have to go out with other companionships ya know? well it's takes us out of our area a lot and sometimes that is frustrating for us. BUT! Heavenly Father always provides :) on the very last day of the very last one, when we were exhausted and destroyed, we had two members call us up and ask us to teach their girlfriends and roommates! we added 3 investigators in one day!! we usually add that many in a transfer! it was such a blessing. and it gets better... we were super tired right? but we wanted to teach right? so i went and said a prayer in the laundry room. i almost fell asleep in it.... but i said it! i have never really felt like i have called down the "powers of heaven" but i had to. i asked so sincerely to have strength to be engaged and in tune. and of course Heavenly Father helped me the rest of the day. after we planned for the next day at 9:30 PM i crashed and died in my bed and slept like a boss. it was an amazing day.

i love you.

thank you for your prayers for safety.

please continue to pray for me to F.L.A.P.(Finish Like A Pro)

 i need it really bad.

i lovesss you!!

sister barfuss

FUN FACTS!                                                                       8-25-14                                                                                                 

1. the raccoons are eating all of our cat food!

2.found out that I have 31 teeth. counting wisdom teeth.

3. last pday we were so tired we just took a nap. YEP. a nap. i'm so exhausted

4. saw the weinermobile parked in front of Petco :D yeah yeah yeah

5. one of my friends from BYU showed up to church on Sunday... it was so weird to have my past life come into my current life. my response was "are you real???" hahaha it just came out

5. an investigator in another area I was on in an exchange gave me a nickname... "pinball wizard" he said one time he watched me after a fireside and I was bouncing off the walls talking to this person and then that person and then that person. hahaha! not sure if I approve

6. found a new kind of poo pourri called "secret santa" at a member's house hahhahaha you have NO idea how much I love that

7. on our morning exercise we had 2 coyotes run away from us like 15 feet away. reminded me of grandma's house and kellie, Katelyn, sheii, and brennan's story of almost being killed by coyotes in the night ;)

8. a ten year old kid said the following to me this week "California is hot and has crappy laws. I want to move." hahaha

9. two people this week said to us "hey elders!! how are you!" #thatwilldo

10. met a guy that had some Japanese on his hat so I asked him what it meant... he said "ninja." my response... "cool!!" his response..."you probably think i'm a poser. i'm not. i'm seriously a ninja." his mom chimes in..."really though. he's a ninja."     *back away slowly*

well basically I love you peoples (especially my mamas). 

like too much.

 I have to pray to not think about you and want to be with you. 

so yeah, you're a problem for me :) 

hope you feel good about that ;)

 really though. I love you like crazy and I miss you like crazy. 

please be safe. 

please be happy.

I love you!!
sister barfuss

I'm giving my neighbor a Tattoo OR Sonic will put Nerds in your slushy

 San Diego, "BABY"

 purple sheet and pink pillow - my "bed"

"Nerds" in a Slushy

How does she have room for the Taekwondo stuff in her suitcase????

AUGUST 12th

FUN FACTS:

1. went to the temple today and felt more peace than i ever have ever ever ever. i love feeling like i'm "home." ahhh man. the temple does a really good job at focusing me and helping me remember the eternal scheme of things. reminds me to chill out and that everything is going to be okay. i should probably go to the temple every week for the rest of my life... if possible.

2. president schmitt said that the script for transfer meeting made him feel like bob barker on the price is right "sister smith your new companion is??????? sister jones!!!!!!! COME ON DOWN!!!!" hahaha

3. got to sit out on the pool chairs for a bit at lunch and soak in some rays. i got some nice color on my white fleshy flesh.

4. remember the old man named Al in Pacific Beach that was super rude to me and asked me all those hard questions about his wife's death? well.... i found out he died :( i wanted to go see him after the mission and be friends... the Spirit World Sisters will go get him for me :)

5. elder van alfen said to sister landeen "did you medicate her [me] this morning??" HEY NOW!!!! hehehee

6. in response to your question on whether or not i licked the chocolate fountain..."to heck with love. i'd rather fall into chocolate!"

7. we're moving :/ saddddd face. I LOVE THE QUIGGLES. i have lived with them for close to a 1/3 of my mission! the quiggles have someone moving in with them and we can't be there anymore, so on the 1st we are moving to a member's granny flat in their back yard! should be exciting!

8. we're like 96% sure that we're getting iPads in september  #hashtags

9. remember those MTE exchanges i went on like 3 months ago where sister landeen and i go with different companionships for the day and night after some training from president?? and we get wrecked from doing like a million of them over and over? well my first one is tomorrow!! yay :)

 

alrighty. 

the gospel is true.

 this thing i am sure of. 

other things are debatable... but Jesus is the Christ. 

i know that.

 i know it.

 

i love you!!

Happy Peter Ashton week! :D
sister barfuss

AUGUST 19th

FUN FACTS:

1. found a family that doesn't allow face cards in their house but they play Rook ALL the time! I just laughed and laughed and laughed. no one understood why. but you will :)

2. it was 113 degrees Wednesday #wantedtoshavemyhead

3. "no peep hole!" that's the best!!"

4. met some crazy dude on the side of the road that loves acronyms... P.U.S.H. = pray until something happens. I asked him what his name was and he said "doctor jay" :) hehe then when we were walking off he was all like "hey ladies!! Shake your Bible!! Shake your Bible!!!!!" uhhhhhhhhhh..... my Bible is too heavy for that....

5. 16 months (that means 10 weeks left people!)

6. two different people have made Harry Potter references to me this week while teaching the gospel. it was awesome. apparently harry potter is a member........

7. spent some time in Chula Vista this week were the filmed The District 2. like the exact church building! haha. the biggest problem for those missionaries is that everyone goes to Tijuana for the weekend. chula vista is like a mile from the Mexican border

8.  was told I have an accent. I asked what it was and he said "a northern one. elongated vowels." haaaaahaaaaahaaaaa (get it?)

9. President Schmitt said that our Pday is Tuesday because it's "Taco Tuesday" around the whole mission... fish tacos for 99 cents! haha not really.... he was joking

10. one of the grandkids staying in our house had a birthday and her older brother sang "happy birthday to you. happy birthday to you. you smell like a monkey. and you look like one too." LOVED it.

11. did you know that Sonic will put Nerds candy in your slushy? I totally did it this week and had "blue raspberry with Nerds" ohhhh yeah baby.

12. some elders texted me one night and said "are you related to april barfuss monson?" (that's my Aunt) turns out they were having dinner with someone who was talking about a "sister barfuss from Idaho that they served their mission with" and the elders connected the dots. SMALL WORLD!

13. met a girl that said her name was misty.... but it was spelt mysti because it's short for mysterious.... hehehehe

14. I have a horrid red patch of skin right next to the corner of my mouth and every time I look at myself in the mirror I feel like I look like a vampire who was sucking someone's blood and then wiped it off my face but it left a stain.... i wish you could see me right now. makeup is not enough.

15. President Romney is in our Stake Presidency. he is mitt's son. he came to our ward on Sunday!

16. went to an appointment with a less active member and when we got to his door he came flying out. i asked him what he was up to and he said "I'm giving my neighbor a tattoo right now. sorry. can we meet later?" WAHAHAHAHA man, i almost died. (secretly i wanted to go to his neighbor's apartment and witness it, but then i was like "maaaybe not")

mamas -  way to be on your missionary work!! i totally agree with the "be friends before sending missionaries" honestly though, people need to realize that we are called to TEACH, not to fellowship or stop by and introduce ourselves. we want people to get to the point that they are perfectly taken care of by a member friend and we just come in and teach a lesson and then leave. BOOM! all of the success in our YSA ward have come from members. 20somethings DO NOT CARE about the gospel and they don't want to talk to us. but when they have a friend! things change!

okay so we got a new bishopric on Sunday (such a bummer because we LOOOOVE them, we're also VEEERY excited for our new one!!) and when our Bishop gave his testimony he talked all about how every sunday after his interviews he would go take out the mother's room trash so it didn't smell horrific by the next sunday. he was always the last one out, so he just did it. at first it was nasty and he thought it was just his duty, but then he said one day he learned something. one day the Spirit whispered "this is what Christ does for you EVERY week. He takes out your horrible nasty embarrassing garbage and then opens up a brand new bag for you. Christ will do this over and over and over and over and over and over." our new bishop's wife bore her testimony and said that they did not start their journey the normal way. he was less active and she wasn't a member, but the decided that they were going to have an active family that was sealed in the temple and went to the celestial kingdom together. then she ended with "if we can do it, so can you."

CHANGE. it's good stuff. 

remember the young little baby sister barfuss that hated change? 

BAH! 

I'm so grateful for opportunities to show faith and in turn learn more about Heavenly Father and Christ.

love you!! love you!! love you!!

sister barfuss

 

i NEVER cry, but good glory - it hurt so bad!

Jumping in the RAIN!

Saying Good Bye to Sis. Strasser

Aug. 5th

FUN FACTS:

1. sister landeen and i aren't getting transferred.... that's FOUR transfers together!!! 6 MONTHS PEOPLE! holy lanta. we couldn't even believe it. seriously.

2. dropped sister strasser off at the airport this morning :( sad face. i cried. i looooooove her. 

3. last week during pday we were playing chair soccer and i got SLAMMED in the face. LIKE DEMOLISHED. someone kicked the ball and nailed me and i cried! i NEVER cry, but good glory it hurt so bad hahaa

4. i prayed to be in a happy mood one day this week and Heavenly Father TOTALLY answered my prayer. He is listening!

5. i put my fake lizard on the toilet seat and then put the lid down and tried to scare sister landeen.... i think she likes lizards or something, it never works!

6. a returning less active we have been working with got her temple recommend this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as exciting as a baptism!

7. been having some headache troubles again... went to the chiropractor. 

8. did some service that requires *SLAMMING* wood with a hammer.... i volunteered. it was AWESOME. before each swing i would say "this one is for________!!!!!! and this one is for_______" hahaha fill in your own blank

9. went to Julian this week! it's the farthest away and smallest our area gets... like smaaaaall. a member in our ward lives up there and his graduating class was.... 15. bahahaha

10. IT RAINED!!!!!!!!!! oh my lanta i just stood there and let it destroy my hair and make up. i loooooove the rain.

11. have you ever played with a "go pro" camera? it's like an indestructible camera on the end of a stick. a member brought one to fhe last night and they were taking pictures under the water and up super high in the air. it was AWESOME. *i may or may not of used the 7 foot stick to creep on people and take pictures of them from behind bushes*

been learning recently that...........

he's going to get it figured out,

she's going to get it figured out,

i'm going to get it figured out,

and we'll get it figured out.

until then, love.

i love you! i love you! i love you!

keep working hard :) stay classy

-sister barfuss

July 29th

alright you party animals!!! i'll try to make me email more exciting than partying in provo together.... bahaha! 

FUN FACTS:

1. the quiggles brought us waffles with chocolate ice cream on them one morning.... whew mama!!

2. i have a fake lizard that an elder gave me and sister landeen took it and put it in my closet and uhh........ i embarrassed myself with my reaction

3. painted the whole inside of a house this week and got more paint on my red shorts! YES!

4. Christmas music in July! whoop whoop

5. I was so exhausted this week that had to take a nap to even function... as soon as i fell asleep i had the weirdest dreams of my life.... like Katelyn Hall status  :) :) hahaha

6. "oh sisters!! don't come in! i just cooked broccoli! NOTHING is worse than the smell of a house you just cooked broccoli in!"

7. walked past a members fridge and there was a picture of Trogdor on it........... hahahahaha i seriously almost died! then i was singing the Trogdor song for 3 days......

8. i got to go on an exchange with sister strasser!! she was my trainer :) she (FINALLY!) goes home next week! we served 15 months of our mission together. not very many people get that much time with their trainer!

9. "sorry sisters. we can't meet today. my WHOLE family has lice."

10. made homemade butter. nooooot that good...

11. sister landeen did some math and she figured out that she will have to spend 3.62 hours with a guy EVERYDAY for TWO YEARS before she has spent more time with him than me. bahahahaha poor girl had to live with me FOREVER

12. talked to a super old lady and her advice for us was "don't get married until you are 26!!" then she told us how she married her husband at 18 after knowing him for 3 days.... uhhhhh......

13. so we spend a lot of time with YSAs right!? well this week we had to talk to all the RS presidents in the stake and a lot of them are the moms of people in our ward... so we were given the task of not laughing when the mom answered the door and she looks JUST LIKE HER SON!! like exactly!! hahahha it was so dang funny! it happened over and over and over. we couldn't hold it together. do i look that much like my mamas?

14. we had a guy RM come out with us this week and in the prayer before we left i said these two things... "thank you that he wants to go out with us tonight" "please bless us to take advantage of him" In ANY other setting that prayer would have been SUPER WEIRD hahaha #missionlife

been thinking a lot about this song i love... it's called 

"More Like Thee"

 by Suzanne Disparte 

 We Must Sing album. 

maybe the best song of my life. you MUST listen to it....

"faith to move what can't be moved

that which proves what can't be proved

hope to make the world seem light

shining through the dark of night

grant me these that i may be

more dear Savior, more like Thee

light that burns away my doubt

casting all the shadows out

love so pure it flows like rain

bringing life where once was pain

grant me these that i may be

more dear Savior, more like Thee"

more like the Savior everyday. 

that's the plan. 

trying alone, i'm sunk. 

 together He and I can get somewhere :)

LOVE YOU!!

sister barfuss