E-Mail #38

 E-Mail #38

February 27th, 2012

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone, can you believe that march starts this week?!? holy hannah!!

 

So first off i want to wish my sister HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! i hope you have lots of fun, and get to go out on a date to celebrate, sorry I'm not there to watch the boys so you can go out. But just know I'm there in heart!

 

This week has been a good week, another struggle, but that is pretty much how things go out here in the chillimo! I might one day accept that fact that its a struggle out here, but until then, i might just have moments of throwing a fit, and then moving on. This week i got some pretty awesome mail!! I got a letter from one of my friends i met in the MTC who is serving in Canada! and then i got a letter from the great RIVA DIVA!!! They were the 2 letters i did not expect, so they made me so happy! i love getting mail, so thank you everyone for sending me letters, you rock! 

 

Wednesday was a really good day. We had some appointments with less active members, but the fun part was that evening we were asked to go to the activity days girls meeting, and to teach them how to wrap presents nicely. So that was fun, sister Larson did the teaching, i did the watching, i learned as much as the girls, and now i know how to wrap a present nicely. so that will be AWESOME.....one day.....when i can use it! Wednesday was also our last district meeting for the transfer, yep that's right transfers are this week. But do not worry, I'm not going anywhere. They wouldn't move me after one transfer of being here, especially after opening an area. So don't hesitate to keep sending mail. nod nod...wink wink. For our district meeting lunch we went to one of their recent converts restaurant and he made us lunch. It was way nice. He was sweet to make us lunch, we really enjoyed it! 

 

 

Thursday night we had such a good appointment with a couple we are teaching, Alexis and jimmy. They have really been trying to make changing but just haven't gotten there yet. Well when we went over there Thursday night there was a lot of tension in their house, and they were struggling, it was perfect, they were finally ready to make changing and make things happen. We had such a good appointment with them, and talked about how if they start to grow and focus on the spiritual things that their home will change and it will become better. So we left them with the challenge to make a list of house standards, to make a list of personal goals, and relationship goals. That night they text us and said their list was complete and they were going to have family prayer before they went to bed. It was SO AWESOME! we were so excited to hear that they were ready to make those changes. We went and saw them again on Friday, and their whole home felt so much different. You could tell they were ready to make changes, and that the things they had done already had started to work. They both said they are dedicated to making these changes and they wont let anything stop them! It was such a touching experience. I am so excited for them to continue on this path and to keep making these changes. Because before they know it, their lives will be so much happier and peaceful than they have EVER experienced! I love seeing people change! Its so great! On top of that, Alexis has always struggled with understanding scriptures, but we left her a chapter to read, and she completely understood it! it was so great! she was so excited and ready to keep going! Blessings are so great! i know heavenly father keeps showing us tender mercies, he knows we are in a tough area, and up against A LOT.....but he keeps showing us that there are possibilities, and to keep going! 

 

 

Friday night also was another tender mercy of our father in heaven. I suddenly got very sick on Friday, i had cold chills, but was burning up, my throat was hurting, i just didn't feel good at all....and for the record i still have a cold, but I'm not AS sick. Well i was being defiant, and i didn't want to go back to the house Friday, i wanted to WORK. Well looking back at the situation, i realized my stubbornness was a blessing from our father. Because i was being stubborn, and i was the driver, i drove over to a less active members home, who was too busy to talk, well we were walking back to our car, and her neighbor was outside, so we went and talked to her. It was SUCH a spiritual moment! It was so cool to give her the book of Mormon and explain where it came from and what it means to us. It was such a great experience! After that, we went home, i felt like we had accomplished something, and i could go home and be sick. But i was so thankful for heavenly fathers tender mercies. He shows so much love for us, and keeps showing us that even though its hard, not to give up. We just have to keep trucking along.

 

OHHH man, me and sis Larson were not going to go in, but our member is fearless and said, well lets go find him. The guy we were looking for. Oh man, once we were inside, i felt very worried. The place was just full of people, everywhere, and you could tell they ALL struggled with something mentally. We went downstairs to the lounge area and found who we were looking for. And got to talk to him, and he was pretty normal, so that was pretty cool. We also met a less active member there. We basically had 3 appointments without leaving our seats. First we were talking to the guy we were looking for, then 2 more people joined us, we taught them, then they left and 2 more people joined us. It was crazy!!! I couldn't believe it, the people there are really nice though, so that was good, at least we weren't getting yelled at or anything. It was just a scary place to be, and for those of you who know i HATE retirement homes, i bet you cant imagine how i felt in THAT place! hahaha. anyways, that pretty much wrapped up our week. Last night we had dinner with the deardeuff family! they are HYSTERICAL.....they pull out jokes left and right. There was a time or two that i was laughing so hard that i had tears in my eyes. They are super awesome, and such a smart family. Their knowledge is super intimidating, but way cool, because you learn a lot from them. And instead of sharing a dinner message, they all pulled out hymn books and we sang our favorite hymns. It was so fun, because they are all really good at singing. They are a pretty awesome family! And i am way excited because on march 11th is my half way mark, and we are having dinner with them again! WOOHOO!!! I'll have to get a picture so you can all meet the deardeuff family!

 

Well i love you all, hope you have a great week!

 

Sister Barnum