E-Mail #49
May 15th, 2012
Hello everyone!
It was soooo great to talk to you all yesterday! Oh man, the light of my year so far! haha. I love you all so much and love seeing that you are all the same and make me laugh just as much as i did when i was home.
This last week has just been a WEEK OF MIRACLES!!! I am not even kidding, miracles everywhere! Especially for Chillicothe! Monday we went to go visit a guy we were teaching at one point, and then things fell through, and we kept trying to teach him, but we hadn't for over a month and a half. He didn't really seem interested. But on Monday we saw him and set another appointment and he told us to come back on Thursday and he knew he would be home at that certain time because his daughter will be coming home around then. So we were way shocked to see his commitment. It made us way excited to visit him on Thursday. Well then Thursday came and we were on our way and text our member who was joining us to teach him. The member text us back and told us that he doesn't think that this guy is ready to change. We just told him that he cant really say that because he hasn't been given the chance to change yet, we have not been able to teach him consistently. Well then we go to our appointment and it was AMAZING!!! We start off not really sure if he knows what our expectations are, so we are talking to him about that kind of stuff, and didn't really feel right about it. Then he interjects and tells us that he got into it with his pastor at his church a couple weeks ago and he hasn't gone to church since. We were all like....well what happened. He then told us about how his pastor was talking about how he was looking for something else to read, and rusty suggested the book of Mormon. The pastor got all upset at him and started quoting scriptures telling him not to add or take away from the bible. Rusty told the guy that that's how the bible came about, people added and took away from it. Then he said, I'm not saying stop reading the bible, its good, but so is the book of Mormon. Then he told us things got really ugly from there....haha! We were in total shock. So then he said that he just is ready for a change and something different! We were like....WHOOOAAA!! so we of course invited him to church and he was allllll over that. (although he didn't come :( ) but either way, still a super good appointment. It was sooo excited to see that even though we hadn't been able to talk with him, or visit him consistently for such a long time, that the Lord was still preparing him. The whole time he was gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon!!! We are just beyond excited to see where this goes for him and his family! WOOHOO! So that was MIRACLE ONE!
Second MIRACLE, there is a single mom of three kids, that we had prayed to find someone we could teach like about 2 months ago, and we tracted into her. We have tried teaching her forever, but it just NEVER HAPPENS! But we didn't give up, and she still liked us coming by. Well FINALLY we got to go see her again. Things were crazy and we were not able to teach her. But it was still a MIRACLE. Her 12 year old son was there while we were talking with her. He talked about how he doesn't go to his church anymore because the leaders treat him bad and make him do push-ups when he gets mouthy.....because all 12 year olds get mouthy.....but you don't make a kid do push-ups for it. Anyways, so we told him about our activity nights on Wednesday and that he could come, and he was GAME!!! We were soooo excited. And his mom Jennifer was so excited for him to go. And now she is excited for us to continue to come over and hopefully teach her finally! Which we actually are going to see her today! It was just so cool, because we were finally able to count her as an investigator, and her son! MIRACLE!!
Third MIRACLE!!! The two girls that are friends with Mayanna who just got baptized. Well the Grandma gave us permission to teach the girls, so we went back on Wednesday to teach them. unfortunately one of the girls had fallen asleep. But the other did not. AND a friend of hers was there. So we ended up teaching Kendall, and her friend Abby, with Mayanna there to help us teach them. It was such a cute appointment. Mayanna is such a strong spirit, she just immediately testifies to her friends, without being told to, or anything. She just goes off on telling them how great the church is! I love it! We talked to the girls about faith and did the faith rocket with them! It was so fun. The grandma then told us about the girls parents and what happened. Which then made sense as to why they are seeking some kind of spiritual understanding! The girls mother was murdered and their dad committed suicide. They believe that their fathers brother was involved in it. It just was one tragic day where they lost both of their parents. Very heart breaking. But at the same time SOO GREAT, because now is the best time in their life to have the full truth that there is on the earth today! Such a great appointment! MIRACLE!!!
Fourth MIRACLE!!! There is a member here who has THE STRONGEST TESTIMONY EVER!!! But she has been struggling so much lately, we found out she had stopped praying and just all sorts of things. We felt we needed to go visit her, so we did. She is deaf so we had to knock forever before she heard us. But she did and we were able to talk with her. She was crying so much, but i could just feel so deep in my heart that Heavenly Father needed us there at that moment to tell her that she wasn't carrying this burden she is alone. That he is there to lift her and carry her, but she just has to LET HIM! It was such a spiritual conversation, we were all crying by the end of it. Telling this wonderful daughter of God to turn to him and let him carry her burden that is weighing he down SOOO MUCH! Oh man....it was again another MIRACLE!!
Fifth MIRACLE!!! We have been trying to get in contact with a members girlfriend for so long. She said she wanted to learn from the missionaries but we just had never been able to get connected so we could talk. Well we were randomly at a gas station and saw her and him there. So i talked to her about how we want to visit her, and she said she has a new sushi making kit and she wants to use it, so we could get together and make sushi and talk. So we did!!! It went so great! This girl is such a spiritual girl, was raised in listening and following the spirit. But never really learned about Jesus Christ, and talked about how she doesn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and just doesn't understand him. We are sooo extremely excited to help her find that relationship with her Savior! It is going to be down right AMAZING!! I straight forward asked her if she would let us teach her and she agreed immediately! It was so great! I am so excited to help someone learn of why our Savior Jesus Christ is the most important ever! Its going to be so cool to see that grow inside her! MIRACLE!!!!
Sixth MIRACLE!!! A couple weeks ago we got a referral from church headquarters. There is a lady in Braymer which is about a half hour away who a friend of hers asked if she could send us missionaries, she agreed. Well tried to visit her a while ago, and she wasn't home. We called her and she wasn't very committed to have us come over. We decided we had a completely open day so we were going to go to Braymer and try and visit her. So we did, and we caught her home! It was such a cool conversation. We found out that when she lived in Liberty she was taught by the missionaries there and has read some of the book of Mormon, and she went to church a few times! we just straight forward asked her too if we could teach her again and she was completely okay with it!!! We were soooo shocked! We did not expect her to be SOO okay with it. But she was! I cant wait to see where this goes also! MIRACLE!!!
So all in all this week we found 6 new people to teach! We taught 25 lessons in one week! That is just amazing numbers. I know you haven't heard any other numbers to really be able to compare it and know. But trust me....it was AMAZING!!! Then i got to top it all off with talking to my wonderful family! I am so thankful you called in Brandon! It was such a great surprise to see you! And to see your wonderful kids! I love you all so much. Every day i am so thankful that i get to be with you all for eternity! The best family a girl could ever have! I love you all so much with all my heart. I miss you dearly everyday, but i am so thankful for this time i get to serve my Father in Heaven, to represent our family. I am thankful i can feel his love for others as i talk with them, and help them understand that he is THERE FOR THEM!!! HE SENT US FOR THEM!!! Its soooo cool. Never in a person's life can you see his work sooo clearly! Its just down right amazing! I love you all!! Thanks for being a support to me always!!!
Love
Sister Barnum
Okay okay, it wouldn't be me to not include a funny story in my email. So the picture of me with the broom, in my HUGE shorts....and ugg boots....haha. Well let me explain. Here in Missouri they have some VERY VERY VERY ANNOYING birds. That are super loud and just make the same noise over....and over....and over...and OVER AGAIN!!! So there was one outside our window one night. Well let me also tell you we both had come home early because we had some crazy tummy ache going on, and there was this stupid bird outside driving me crazy! Well brother Sperry usually shoots the birds if they don't go away, he wasn't home so i couldn't ask him to shoot it. So i go outside and throw a rock at it, it flys away and comes right back. I walk toward it and scream at it, it does the same thing, flys away and comes right back. I was sick of this stupid bird. So i went and got some boots on....and a broom to hit the bird with. I go outside in my bird killing outfit. Unfortunately i never actually killed it, but i got really close and scared it enough to make it go away!! So there you go, that picture shows my bird killing outfit! STUPID BIRDS!!
Okay, okay. If i am going to tell one funny story, i should tell the other one of this week also. Soooo we had an appointment with a guy we had previously taught, that broke up with his girlfriend that he was with when we taught him, and was now living with another girl. Well we go to see him. His new girlfriend answers the door, and tells us today's not a good day, and yells for the guy. He comes up the stairs and tells us today is not good and walks away. Well the girl felt bad so she invited us in and proceeded to tell us about what the problem was. That they were fighting because there were some issues that went down because of things that happen behind closed doors.....if you catch my hint! Well, i will spare YOU all the details we heard because it should never be repeated. But let me tell you what, i don't think any missionary out there has heard a conversation like we did that day! Meanwhile amidst all this drama, the 2 year old son that is ALL over the place suddenly comes out with a magazine....yep, I'm sure you can imagine what kind. I saw what it was and the boy went to give it to sister Larson. So i told her what it was, and she was like AHHH!! and tried putting it under the couch, well then the little boy thought THAT was a game and kept trying to pull it out. YEA!!! IT WAS CRAZINESS!!!! Oh man, a night that will NEVER be forgotten for me and sister Larson! :) HAHAH!!!
Alrighty!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Sister Barnum
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