Email #16

E-mail #16
9-19-11

Hello all!!!

Well this week was a COLD week, which was GREAT!!!! I love that the weather is FINALLY changing and I survived the 100-110 degree summer!!! So that is an accomplishment in itself! Well this week was SUPER busy, we had so many appointments it was just insane. We ran around and taught a lot but it was great. People that we are teaching really are coming closer to the Gospel and to their Savior and our Heavenly Father! I love seeing when people embrace that. It just changes their lives and strengthens them so much! We got a new investigator this week that is just amazing, we have done family home evening with her twice and talked with her and she's came to church 3 times now!! She is great!! Her boys go to primary and LOVE IT!!! They told me yesterday as they were showing us their missionary fund jars they made in primary that "before I wanted to be a snake keeper, but since I met you I want to be a missionary" HOW CUTE IS THAT?!!??!!! I wanted to just die, and then turn to their mom and say....so will you be baptized!!?? lol. It was great, their family is WONDERFUL! Saturday we did lots of tracting, and it was really good in the beginning then really rough in the middle then good in the end. We met a lot of people who were willing to let us come back in a really big apartment complex in Junction. Then we went out to Chapman a side town and had an appointment then tracted there, and those people are not the warmest people, but it was a good challenge to keep my head up and push myself. Then the last place we went to, we were seeing if someone still lived in a apartment and they didn't but the girl that answered the door, her son who is 4 came out and it was SO CUTE....he walked out struck a pose and then flexed his muscles so hard he was shaking....then he pulled up his shirt sleeves to show us his muscles....then he struck a pose again and said "you wanna mess with this" and I LAUGHED so hard.....then he kept flexing....then a pose again...and said "what you lookin at" his mom was so funny, her response was "they are looking at you" hahaha. It was great I was laughing SO HARD!! We have an appointment to go back and see her, if anything I am looking forward to seeing that cute little kid, but I also know the message we share with her will bring her family so much joy!!! It was super funny though, I thought I was going to die of laughter! OHHH and I have to tell you about this member that we had dinner with on Friday. They live like a half hour away from junction and in their TINY town they have one diner that is only open on Friday evenings. They serve a steak big enough for two, so they took us to that. Well after we went back to their house and he has the COOLEST BIRD EVER!!!!!!!!! I am going to save up money to buy me one, because the bird is BOMB!!!! I will attach a picture, and try to send the video. but I think the bird had a crush on me, because I was sitting next to the member who owns it and the bird was hanging out on his shoulder, but kept walking along his arm over to me, then the bird would get on my shoulder an say "hello" so I'd say "hello" then it would walk back and I'd start laughing, then the bird would laugh with me. It just kept doing that over and over and over again. Then at one point it was dancing on my shoulder, and it kept walking down my arm by my chest and would cuddle with me by laying against me so I could pet it.....IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!! Yep, I am SO going to get a pet like that one day!

Well this week I have Zone Conference which I am super excited about!!! We have some REALLY good follow up appointments happening this week and hopefully we can get some baptismal challenges at those appointments. We have exchanges and all sorts of craziness going on!!! But it is going to be a blast!!! The week will fly by, speaking of flying by, can you believe September is basically over?!!!?? holy macarolllie.......I have almost hit my 4 month mark.....I make myself so proud every time I hit a new month, because its one more month I was able to stick it out through the HARDSHIPS of being a missionary, because let me tell you what, I have never done anything this difficult in my LIFE!! But I am so proud of all the things I am learning, and the growth that is happening. I hope I never go back in progress and just keep growing.

Welp, I think that's all I've got to say this week. I hope you have a joyful week, and remember

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!!!

Love
Sister Barnum

picture is of me and Sister Dent with the GREATEST BIRD EVER....peaches!