E-Mail #25

E-Mail #25

November 28th, 2011

Hello everyone!!

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving week. I know i didn't send an email last week.....it wasn't the prettiest week for me. But all is well and time to toughen up and MOVE ON. So this week i have quite the update....for the last two weeks. So we had interviews before we went out to Great Bend and Hays. It was great to see President Keyes and his Wife. They are so great. And because there were only 6 of us that were getting interviewed we got to spend a longer time talking to him, which was SO GREAT!!! We talked about our investigators, and how things are going. I asked him to keep me in Junction City at least one more transfer, i want to be here for Christmas. He made a note of it. Reminded me that its still the Lord that makes those calls, but to an extent he can make accommodations. I hope with all my heart i stay here. The day i leave junction city, will be a sad day, i know i will cry A TON!!!! This place and these families have become home for me. I love them all so much! After interviews we were off to Great Bend. It was about a 3 hour drive. PARTY PARTY......to church music. lol. But it was fun to be in great bend and to be with the sisters there for a day. My crazy companion wanted to get up early and go ride bikes.....when it was like 20 degrees outside. I went with her, i bundled up and just walked around outside while she rode around the neighborhood. She is so funny. I was freezing. It was fun to spend girl time with the sisters out there, we never get to talk to them like i wish, so it was fun to be with them. The next day we went to Hays Kansas. And spent Friday with the sisters out there. Although most of that day we spent in the car.....7 hours in the car to be exact. We went to their district meeting which was a 2 hour car ride away. Had district meeting with them, went to lunch with them. and then went back to hays, and then we had to drive home. So yep....7 hours in the car!!! The place we had lunch was at a members home who has the missionaries over every district meeting for lunch, and she makes a FEAST!! it was so good!!! We got to spend time with some of the senior missionaries who are in their district, and that was fun to. I'll attach a picture of one of them. Cause he reminds me SO MUCH of grandpa!!! it was crazy, he looks like grandpa (except his hair is shorter) their car even smelt like grandma and grandpa's and he has the same sense of humor as grandpa! it was great, it took everything in me not to give him a big hug like i would if i saw grandpa today. He is so great! they are great missionaries too. So moving on to the week of thanksgiving!!!! Well Wednesday, i got sick!!! what a way to start the holiday huh?! Yea, we went to an appointment and afterward i did not feel good, i didn't feel good before either, but after i wanted to die, so we went back to the apartment and i slept for like 3 hours, it was GREAT!! A very lazy day, i get nervous that i should have been out working, but it was so nice to relax and just try and feel better. Which worked because thanksgiving i did feel better! So thanksgiving was fun, we went out around 2, to our first dinner appointment, and we ate the sister fords home. She is an AMAZING COOK!!!! I mean...AHHHMAZING!!! So we ate....A TON!!! which wasn't a good idea considering we had 4 more dinner appointments to go to, but we couldn't help ourselves. I want to re-live that meal again it was so good! They had a total of 10 pies, about 5 different options of pies! It was CRAZY GOOD! I ate the mixed berry pie, it was AMAZING! I think I'm using that word too much, but what else can i say...it was goooood. After that dinner we went to the church, where people who didn't have anywhere to go got together to have thanksgiving. Unfortunately.....and yet fortunately they were done. We were so full we couldn't have eaten anything even if we wanted to....but it was a bummer not to see some of the people that were there. But i did see my cousin, sister tibbals....and she gave me a hug from my family. THANKS FAMILY!!!! i sure was missing you guys, when she hugged me it took everything in me not to start crying, and tell her to call you guys right then! lol. But i was a big girl, so no worries. We then went to the Capron family, who if I'm still here for Christmas we will spend Christmas with! They are such a great family, super funny, Brother capron reminds me a TON of randy, so i feel very at home around them. I had another slice of pie at their home. which was again....super goood! We hung out with them for a little bit, they entertained us, by pulling pranks on their kids, and just being the capron family! they are awesome! After that we went to Char (the most amazing investigator EVER) and met some of her family, and played with her boys a little bit. She gave us a WHOLE apple pie to take home and eat! lolginerale to drink because i thought my stomach was going to fall apart. I felt like death...from all the food. But we did discover the Thanksgiving movie to watch was harry potter because everywhere we went, they were watching harry potter. So I'm sure there are some of you reading this that did the same! haha. Oh and i have to tell you a fun part about thanksgiving, so before all the meals even started, our zone leaders were coming to our apartment to get some papers they needed us to fill out. So before they got there we had this idea to pull a prank on them....it was GENIUS!! We went to our Asian neighbor and asked him if we could put our picture of Jesus on his door, and when the elders answered the door if he would mess with them. He was excited he said that he was going to speak in Korean and be angry....haha. We were SO EXCITED!!! So we went upstairs with our camera's to hide and to video tape what was about to happen.....so the elders come inside, we and the floor above them, waiting for them to ring the door bell and to have Jo answer and yell at them in Korean....and all of the sudden....ELDER COX peeked around the stairs and saw us upstairs!!! WE SCREAM and were like DANG IT!!!! we almost got you guys!!! they came upstairs and were laughing at us....elder cox told us he has deaf eyes....he saw us through the balcony window!! HAHAH!!!! It would have been so great if the prank actually worked.....either way it was pretty funny though. So now moving on to Friday....Friday....what an eventful day. I didn't feel good Friday....was sick....again...and we got a call from the sisters in Manhattan and they were sick too! but they had appointments they needed to go to. So we went down to Manhattan, and i stayed in the apartment with one of the other sisters while sister fie'eiki went out with the other sister to their appointments. It was sad. The zone leaders came by and were shocked to see us all there...and all sick, they thought we were going to die, they called us like 3 times the next day to make sure we were alright. haha. They are so nice to care! Now on to Saturday, we went with the ward to do the big service project that the first presidency asked all wards to do. We went to several different places of elderly people and helped them out. We went to one of our ward members elder Williams. I clean his fridge out, wiped down all the shelves and all that. and we clean all sorts of stuff. made his apartment look good. He is such a cute old man, he loves to hit on us missionaries, he proposed to sister dent every time we saw him when she was here, and he just loves to flirt with me and sister fie'eiki. it was funny. He is great! Love adorable old men. Also after thanksgiving the city turned on their Christmas lights. We live next to the main park in junction and its all pretty with Christmas lights EVERYWHERE. we are going to go get pictures this week there with all the Christmas lights so we can put them on our Christmas cards. But before they turned on the lights. actually thanksgiving morning because we were sick on being in the apartment, so we went over to the park and did a photo shoot, I'll have to attach some of those pictures too! lots of pictures this week, hope you enjoy them! Now an update on investigators!!! We had a baptism this weekend, it wasn't in junction city, our investigator went to Iowa to be baptized, but he got baptized, we were super excited for him. His wife is a member and her family baptized him. So that was great. We are so excited for them, and they are expecting their first baby in January, so that is super fun! they will be great parents. And the GREAT CHAR...and family found out that her husband is expected to be home the week of Christmas.....which before it wasn't until the middle of January....which means she and he boys will be getting baptized soon!!! we are SOOO EXCITED!!! and then a year from that....and from her husbands future baptism i will be back out here to see them sealed in the temple! Although it will most likely be in south Carolina, because they are getting moved to another army station. :( but that's okay, i will go anywhere to see that family in the temple. They are a part of my family now! and then time for the BIG....the GREAT....the AMAZING MIRACLE!!!! okay me and sister fie'eiki decided to call this a 'preach my gospel miracle' WHY....because in preach my gospel they have these great missionary stories....that are amazing....but they rarely happen like that. BUT WE HAVE ONE!!!! PREACH MY GOSPEL WORTHY!!! Last p-day the Gavin's a member in our ward called us and told us she wanted us to bring her a book of Mormon to her work, she has a really good friend that she wants to give one too, and she has a really good feeling about this friend. So we take it to her and go about the rest of our p-day and week. YESTERDAY this friend comes to church with the Gavin's, her name is Donna. She tells us in the lobby that she has been reading the book of Mormon and is really enjoying it. She attended all of church, after relief society, she came and tracked us down and was like, i want more....i need a book that talks about your history, i want to read this stuff, i learn more when i read, can you give me some stuff. So we gave her a pamplet that talks about how the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored, and she didn't have a bible so we went and got her one of those too. And off she went. as she was walking away with the bible she was like, I'll start reading this today. We are thinking....man, that's awesome...GO FOR IT!! Well....it gets better. Later that evening we call sister Gavin to find out where her son lives because we were going to go visit him. But she starts telling us how she just left Donna's and tells us what happened when she was there. She was talking to her about how every time she reads the book of Mormon and prays about it she feels so warm inside and so great. and at church she felt so comfortable and so welcomed and so great! She just goes on and on telling us how she feels so warm.....and then tells sister Gavin that she wants to be baptized!!!! BAPTIZED!!!!! (let me remind you we haven't even HAD a teaching appointment with her yet) So she asks sister Gavin how that works, sister Gavin answers her questions, and she want to know who has to baptize her. Sister Gavin tells her it can be any guy in the church who has the priesthood, and that her husband could baptize her if she wanted, so Donna gets her phone and calls brother Gavin and ASKS him to BAPTIZE HER!!!! I KNOW!!!! are you freaking out yet as much as me and sister fie'eiki were last night!!!??? Anyways, so we are going to go join the Gavin's and Donna for FHE tonight, and we are going to teach her tomorrow. and hopefully we can have her baptized next Sunday after church. We will see how that goes, if not next Sunday it will be the Saturday after that! We WERE SCREAMING!!!! we were so excited!! THAT'S why we call it a preach my gospel miracle.....because when does that even happen!!!??! it was soo cool and we are sooo excited. The funny part is earlier that week we were reading in preach my gospel and read one of the stories they have in there and both of us thought, that never happens, i mean it does happen, but that does not happen to every missionary. We both thought this separately. and both thought man that would be nice to have that happen and to witness it. and WE DID!!!!! I mean even if worse case scenario...Donna doesn't get baptized, or whatever....which wont happen, but even if it did, HF showed us a miracle and taught us to have faith that those things CAN HAPPEN!!!!! I KNOW....SO GREAT!!! So this week is going to be goooood!!! we are super excited. Its going to be a December of BAPTISMS!!!!! that's what a missionary likes to see! :) and so does Jesus....just sayin (solo diego).....oh, and HF of course. :)

So there is your super super super long update. For those of you that read the whole thing i hope you enjoyed it. Lastly I'll tell you something me and sister fie'eiki have been doing. Because its an army post....everyone has NICE cars, because they don't really have permanent houses...so they buy nice cars, and there are SO MANY CHARGERS....so sister fie'eiki has been keeping count of every charger she sees, its like in the 50's and it hasn't even been a week of doing that. Well on Saturday i started counting mustangs, cause i noticed there were a TON of those too, so its been 2 days-ish. and I've already counted 29.....HOLY MACK....i know....army people, they all buy the same cars, i mean, they all have different paint jobs and rims, but they all are the same! funny funny! we'll see what the count is at by next week. haha.

Well i hope you all have a great week and i am so excited Christmas is less than a month away, i get to talk to my family!!! WOOHOO!!!! Oh and i haven't gotten mail in a week and a half. maybe someone should WRITE ME....SOLO DIGO!!!

ohhh, and last night we set up our Christmas tree in our apartment, and when i say we, i mean me....sister fie'eiki just sat on the couch and watched. lol. and the picture will show you how missionaries decorate tree's. HAHA!

Love you!

Sister Barnum.