cactus tacos

Bueno,
 Hola hola ok so some exciting things happened this week like a lot of great member work, some funny times, eating one of my favorite plants, good weather, bad weather, bikes, baptismal invites etc. the good stuff.

No one on date to be baptized yet but that's to be continued. We saw some really great miracles this week. We received 5 referrals - 1 from an investigator and 4 from members, Which is amazing! 3 of them a member introduced us to them in person and we hope to have lessons with them and the member in the coming week. The other we taught with the member there, which was great until the member unexpectedly pulls out her copy of The teachings from Spencer W Kimball and asked my companion to read something she had read that morning. She made my companion read 4 whole pages and I was like whoa this isn't relief society Hahahah. I was dying inside ha I am obviously not the best at taking control of situations, especially when members are involved. Then when my companion refused to read the whole chapter, the member bore her testimony and exhorted her friend to read it. Which isn't totally awful but, not ideal at first! We taught about and invited her to read the Book of Mormon of course, but we aren't sure if she is confused about these books she has received. It was pretty funny.

 Alexander has such a fire burning in him to do missionary work. We went to an appointment with his neighbors and they stood us up. He told us about how it doesn't just make him sad when people reject us, it makes him mad. He told us "they have no idea what they are turning down!" He took us over to one of his friends apartment (a family) to meet them and hopefully teach them. He told us to wait at the bottom of the stairs because they live on the top floor. We hear him knock and say "Hi can I introduce you to 2 people who are a great blessing in my life?" And of course they said yes. Then he hollered down to us "Hermanas! Pueden subir!!" Or "Hnas you can come up!" Hahahah it was a hilarious moment just climbing and climbing all the stairs I was laughing. It was great, zoe and emilio are awesome people! They were actually already former investigators so according to the numbers we report they aren't 2 of the 5 referrals this week but in my eyes they definitely are member referrals because their door has opened again because of alexander's desire to share the Gospel. As a recent convert he is seeing more and more of the amazing blessings that the restored Gospel have to offer and he wants to share it so much!

 On Sunday we went to dinner, they were barbecuing and I ate some grilled cactus. For those of you who know me, you know that I love cacti so it was pretty cool eating one, even though I do not want to eat it again. Obviously they have no spikes on them. It was a good experience.

 amalia texted us this week and told us she will probably separate with her husband/boyfriend, which is sad, I want them to be married and have an eternal family :( thankfully she still wants to meet with us through this stress, she just wasn't able to see us this week or come to church. We will see what happens this week. Pray for her!

 We prayed and worked all week to help people attend church. Of course! It seems to be our struggle so far this transfer. Saturday night specifically I was praying that our investigators would come to church, even if we could just have one there. It seems that people lately just avoid going to church so much- they tell us they're free at 11am Sunday for us to come by but when we say "perfect, so you can come to church with us at that exact time!", They tell us every excuse they can think of...
But my prayers were answered. In sacrament meeting, one of our great members brought a friend she met in the grocery store this week. He recently moved from Arizona, and before he moved he met the missionaries and went to church once there. It is such a miracle that the missionaries found him there, and he ran into and happened to talk to our member within 2 weeks of moving here. We will be meeting with him this week, he is very excited to learn about Joseph Smith. His name is Jamie, pray for him! He is so legit. I know that Heavenly Father brings to pass the things we need in our lives, just when we need them. I found out later on that Hermana Lewis had prayed the night before for the exact same thing- at least one investigator at church.

 Right now I am reading about Alma and amulek in the Book of Mormon. I love them! Their teachings are mind blowing. They blew the peoples minds at the time, and they were blowing my mind this morning! The judgement day is very real. Very very real. Our guilt will be so real that we will want mountains to crush us to hide us from his presence (alma 12:14) and The Lord is so merciful, he gave us this life as a preparatory state. A time to prepare for the Judgement day. I love what it says about the importance of this life, but also the necessity of death. Death is a part of all of this.

 President Fenn sent out a harvester this week about the doctrine of death that you should read (family). I know these things are real and that the Book of Mormon is true! Love you all, make good choices por favor!

 LOVE Hermana Barlow

 Ps. Fun story: we were teaching the restoration to this 16 year old kid who is hilarious and right after the first vision we have a silent moment, just picture it all spiritual, and he goes, looking at the picture in the pamphlet, "is Jesus the one on the right... Or the left?" Hahaha he is so great