cheering children Aug 4

JUST A SIGN I SAW :)Can you see the guy driving the taco? 

Hiiii fam                                                  Aug 4, 2014

So this week was pretty great, it went by a lot faster than last week.
Last Monday was good, we taught an awesome family that we are pretty
excited about. We are seeing them again tonight so
hopefully all goes well again. The dad's name is Elder which is
funny,.. It'd be funnier if we were elders.

Lucas is still on date and is keeping the word of wisdom!! Pray for him please!

Tuesday night we went on exchanges with the Hermanas in Aurora, my
first area! I got to go there with Hermana Morby. It was so fun going
back! I have a couple of cool stories from that. So at one point
during the day Hermana Morby took us to one of their investigators
apartments to drop by and see if she was home. As we were pulling up I
was like heyy I know these apartments haha that's where Maria and
Melanie, Antonella, and Julieta all live. So as we are driving in I see
cute melanie on her balcony and I wave and she was so excited haha. So
we go over and we end up teaching her, her mom, and her two cousins.
I'm still not sure if Melanie is ready yet but their cousins were super
interested! It was cool because they are just on vacation from Mexico
and we happened to run into them. We got their info to send the
missionaries to them in Durango. I feel like The Lord put us in their
path for a reason! I love testifying of the Book of Mormon, I'm sure
I've said that a hundred times.

  Another cool story is this: (two part story) 
part 1: ok so a whole
year ago Hermana Hungate and I knocked into a guy in his 20's named
Matias. He had tattoos on his eyelids so we called him 'Matias eyelid
tattoos' haha. We were able to return and give him a Book of
Mormon. We returned again and when we knocked, a lady behind the door
was like "Hey, you's da Catholics?!?" And we were like hahah no... And
she opened up and was really nice but full of excuses. She was Matias'
mom. (Not sure if I told that story after it happened, it was funny).
part 2:
So fast forward... I've been hearing about a "familia Garcia" that
some Hermanas were teaching and how they were awesome, and they 
got baptized two weeks ago. So... Hermana Morby and I go to teach them,
I go in and I see Luis eyelid tattoos! And the you's da Catholics
lady!!!! I was like ohhhhhh myyyyy gooodness no way- I know you people!
So Matias isn't baptized and hasn't actually been listening to the
missionaries, but his mom, dad and little brother did get baptized!
They said that they faintly remember me, and then Matias
stayed for the lesson for the first time! It was just really cool to
see that The Lord was leading us there for whatever reason a year ago,
and that he led the Hermanas there again in the exact time that they
were ready. I know the Lord's hand was in that!

That night we switched back and did a back to back exchange. A
brand new missionary (only in the field for 8 days) came with me to
our area in Wheaton! Her name is Hermana Richardson. It was fun doing
the 12 week program again :) we saw an awesome miracle!
Ok so last week I talked about Violeta I think. The one who we
taught on exchanges, and again when I was transferred here. So Hna
Richardson go for our appointment and she was there! We went in with a
very loose lesson plan, we weren't sure what she needed to hear more
than review about Joseph Smith. So we did that, and she had remembered
a lot! She had awesome answers to our questions, I just love her- she
is great. So there came a point where I was like ok..... What now. I
first thought about talking about church so I opened up to Moroni 6,
then I was like hmm... maybe we could talk about baptism too. So we
just started to read the chapter. It was a perfect chapter to read,
after the first couple verses we stopped and discussed baptism.
Throughout this lesson I had been trying to give Hna Richardson
opportunities to talk which sometimes started out with moments of
silence :) which was good. Hna Richardson is awesome. but after a
moment of silence she says to her "Hermana how do you feel right now?"
And Violeta said very good. Then I remembered we hadn't done a good
follow up about her praying. We asked her if she prayed and she said
yes. I asked her how she felt and she said "I felt so good! I felt so
much peace. I felt so free- like I could do anything." I was so
excited! We explained the spirit and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We
invited her to be baptized and she said she wanted to! We said we
wanted to set a date with her, so we pulled out the calendar. The 30th
is the last Saturday in the transfer, so we asked if she could do that
one and she said she'd try. I was thinking.... That doesn't feel right
:/. So we decided we would have 4 dates in mind and pray about it.
After the prayer, Violeta said, how about the 13th of September.
Which wasn't even the latest date! So we are excited and she is
preparing for that date :) the spirit was so strong and it was one of
those lessons that I'll never forget. I love being a missionary!

So I read a good talk this week called "beware of pride" by Ezra Taft
benson. It was really really interesting and true. Pride is the great
vice and it's manifest in so many ways. Go read it everyone!

Also I had some really great studies this week. I have still been
focusing on studying about faith, desire and attitude to baptize.
One day I read Alma 29 and my eyes were opened about desire! I think
Alma had more desire to baptize than anyone. In verse 6 it says "Now,
seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to
perform the work to which I have been called?" While reading this I
really felt that when we are called to a calling it's Gods will. So
really, what else would God want us to do besides the calling that he
has called us to? That is his desire and will. Having the desire comes
down to knowing Gods will and accepting it as my own. This passage can
apply to all callings in all different stages of life.

Well I love you all! I hope you're giving your best to the work that
The Lord has called you to.

I love you! Don't forget to pray for Lucas and Violeta.

Hermana Barlow

Ps. Yesterday we pulled into a parking space at an apartment complex.
A group of 10 foreign children in front of our car began to cheer
with the greatest joy and it was the best thing that's happened to me
in a while Hahahah 
Turns out we hit an empty soda can they put in the
road... but, still.