STILL IN THE CCM!

Hermanas in our district

Our district leader and zone leaders
Elder Klemme, Quist, and Peterson
These guys are so awesome! 

Ok sooo since the Texas missionaries aren't leaving until Wednesday, we get another P-day in the CCM! So after this email I really will be in Texas and we're the very last missionaries to leave the CCM, which is super weird and kinda frustrating cause I just want to get out in the field already! And sorry this is gonna be a shorter email this week :) 

This past week my testimony of The Book of Mormon has been strengthened so much! Last night we had a devotional with the President about the power of the Book of Mormon and how every single page and even every single verse has power & testifies of God & Jesus Christ. A few days ago, our teacher gave us all a Book of Mormon and said "Ok, go hand these out and get people's info!" Since we were learning how to contact people. There are a lot of construction workers here, and most of them aren't members, so that's who we talked to! It was one of the coolest things ever! And I can't wait to do it all throughout my mission! 

I testify that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. It is another testament of Jesus Christ! There is so much power in every single page that you read, and it has been given to us to answer the questions of our soul and bring us comfort & peace. Even if you just read ONE VERSE, I promise that you will learn something and feel of God's love for you. 

I love y'all so much! I am so grateful for this time to be a full-time missionary! But don't forget that y'all are missionaries as well, wherever 
you are :) 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Barlow 

LAST WEEK IN THE CCM!

Enjoy this photo of our beautiful Latino compañeras that I love so much :) 

It's pretty much a tradition here that by the time you get to the 6th week you start to get sick. I remember when other districts in our zone were leaving, about every single person got a cold, and now about our whole district is sick including me! Haha it's all good though :) 

And our zone leaders are in charge of picking people to speak in sacrament meeting each Sunday, so of course since the zone leaders already know me, they picked me to speak last Sunday! :) it went good though, our meeting was all about the Plan of Salvation. 

Our Latino companions left on Monday which was seriously the saddest thing ever. The Hermanas made the cutest cards for us (which a lot of it we still had to use Google translate to understand them) but yeah they are just the greatest and I miss them already. 

We got stickers for our nametags this week! So now everyone knows were the cool kids who leave next week-:)  This week has just consisted of lots of meetings to prepare us for the mission field, and it just makes me even more excited to get out into the field! I cannot wait to meet my brothers and sisters in Texas and share this amazing gospel with them! 

I have absolutely loved being here in the CCM! I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me this experience to live in Mexico for 6 weeks and learn all about Spanish & teaching the gospel surrounded by wonderful people. I have learned so so much these past 6 weeks, and my relationship with Heavenly Father has definitely been strengthened here, through the good and bad times. But I'm also excited to come back to the States, and start eating TEX-MEX!-:) 

I love you all! This gospel is so so true!!!

Hermana Barlow 

1 MONTH DOWN

Well, I am now on week 5! Time has seriously gone by so fast here in the CCM. I am constantly learning new stuff every day, and I can definitely see my Spanish improving compared to when I first got here which is crazy! The CCM presidency always reminds us that the last 2 weeks we should try to speak as much Spanish as possible, so our district decided on Sunday night to do a 2 week English fast! We decided to do a competition between the Elders and Hermana's, and it has been so much fun! (Below is a pic of our first day doing it, as you can see the Hermanas are winning with less words said in English ;)) 

Our district´s english fast goal :)

Teaching with the Latino companions has been so much fun! Yesterday when we were taking turns teaching our investigators, our district and Latino companions were sitting in our study room, just singing the himnos together. And there was such a special spirit in the room! I seriously love the Latinos so much, they have such big hearts and they are like our best friends now :)

My other compañera Hermana Flores!!! 

This Sunday was definitely the best Sunday EVER :) The theme for sacrament and all the devotionals was about Christ. We talked about the attributes of Christ and how we should always strive to be like Him (BTW Elder Bednar gave a really good devotional about the Character of Christ at a Christmas MTC devotional in 2013, go watch it!) But for our last devotional we talked about His Grace and the enabling power of the Atonement in our lives. Lots of people shared thoughts and experiences of how they relied on the Atonement when loved ones passed away or repenting of sins, but Presidente invited a specific Elder to come up and share his experience of how the Atonement has strengthened him. And once he spoke we found out that he has a stutter. He is such an amazing example of how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can change you, with his decision to serve a mission and to speak a different language even though he has a speech impediment. It seriously made the whole room cry hearing him speak, it was so powerful. 

I want to testify that Jesus Christ KNOWS YOU AND LOVES YOU. He has paid the price for all of your sins, and He has also felt perfectly the pain of all of your sorrows & sufferings. Through His Grace He can turn our weaknesses into strengths and we can become more like what our Heavenly Father wants us to be. His Atonement is for EVERYONE, no matter what challenges you have been given or what choices you have made.

I love you all!

Hermana Barlow 

Jesus Loves You!

Hermana Call and Hermana Barlow

This past Sunday was fast & testimony meeting, so we got to share our testimonies! Even though we had to share them in Spanish, it was one of the best testimony meetings I have been to! The Spirit was so strong, just being with so many missionaries who were speaking broken Spanish but who all have powerful testimonies. 

Also, Sunday's are kinda long cause we listen to a lot of devotionals, but I always learn so much from them. My favorite one from this past Sunday was about family history and temple work (of course ;)) those who have known me for a while know that this is my absolute favorite church topic! So yeah, my invitation for y'all this week is to do your family history and take your ancestors names to the temple! There's always more work to be done! And it seriously makes temple trips a lot more personal & special when you are doing work for people you are related to. It's so cool :)

So our zone leaders and STL's left this week, which I'm so sad about because they are all amazing and such cool people. But since our STL's are leaving, Hermana Call and I got called to be the new Sister Training Leaders! So basically our job is to watch over all the hermanas in our zone, but we are joining with our new zone leaders to visit all the districts every few days cause we want to get to know all the districts better, and our new zone leaders are awesome! I love working with them :) sooo slightly nervous for this new responsibility, but I am so excited for this opportunity to serve the Hermanas in our zone! :)

Yesterday was our district's first day being paired up with Latino companions for lessons! It was definitely very interesting, cause I have realized that my Spanish is SO BAD. But my companion is super sweet and we did okay on our first lesson together :) 

Also last night, we had a broadcasted devotional from the Provo MTC, so we got to hear from Elder Christofferson! Before the broadcast started, the CCM President invited 2 Elders to come up and share their conversion stories (they have only been members for 14 months!) And it just brought me to tears. Cause earlier in the day I was feeling so discouraged from not knowing enough Spanish. After Presidente finished the Q&A's with the 2 Elder's, he turned to the audience and said "This is why you are going on missions. To find people like these 2 Elder's who accept the gospel and even go on to serve their own missions and change the world." So yeah it was super powerful and something that I definitely needed to hear :)

I love this gospel with all of my heart! I know that this gospel brings so many blessings. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and loves us all so much. He wants us to come unto Him and partake of the goodness His Gospel brings. I came across Alma 5:60 this week and it is SO GOOD. Please know that you have a loving Savior who wants to help you in your times of need. Turn to Him. He is always there by your side and HE LOVES YOU. 

Con amor,

Hermana Barlow

Mexico City Temple

Hermana Vicki

Elder Dececo and Elder Lake

Hermano Chavez! He works in the tienda
 and he's also one of the counselors
in our branch presidency!

Mexico City Temple

 the hermanas! 

General Conference=Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

On our pday last week we got to go TO THE TEMPLE!!! I was totally not expecting to go our first pday, but it was something I definitely needed. The spirit was so so strong, and it honestly was so hard for me to leave. What was so amazing about going to the temple in Mexico was that even though it was in Spanish, it was the same spirit and I felt like I was home again. And we get to go again today! Seriously, temples are SO COOL! PLEASE go to the temple this week!

I hope you all had the chance to watch General Conference, because it was SO GOOD! And it was such a neat experience to watch it in a big room filled with missionaries. The best part was during the Saturday morning session and they announced that Holland was the last speaker, the whole auditorium just started cheering! Hahah it was awesome :)

Three of my favorites :)
1. Bonnie L Oscarson - Serve at Home
Ok there were so many good talks about "forgetting yourself and serving others" but Sister Oscarson's words were some of my favorite! Our service doesn't need to be on a grand scale, and we shouldn't forget to serve our loved ones at home. Every single one of us is called to serve!
2. David A Bednar - The Sabbath Day & Holy Temples
The Sabbath Day and temple attendance are sacred time, it is when we focus on & feel close to our Heavenly Father & Savior Jesus Christ. And we should do our best to bring that Spirit into our homes as well.
3. Russell M Nelson - The Book Of Mormon
I loved the story he shared of how the King of Ghana was fascinated & touched with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and how he said it is worth far more than diamonds and rubies. The Book of Mormon truly is LIFE CHANGING!

It is so amazing how much God knows each one of us individually. I felt like God was speaking specifically to me, and I hope & pray that you all will go back and read these talks often. God truly loves us so much and I am so grateful that He still guides us today through his apostles.

It's definitely interesting being here in the CCM, haha. Especially on the weekends, you can hear so many gunshots and loud parties right outside of the CCM. There was even one morning when there were constant gunshots going off since 2 AM that kept us all up. Hahah the Latino's know how to party :)

Teaching investigators has been getting better each day :) our very first one was super hard because he didn't believe in God, but we have 2 new ones now and our first lessons with them went ok! The Spanish is coming along little by little, but I'm definitely learning so much every day :) 

Monday night during dinner when Hermana Call and I were putting our trays away, one of the workers came out from the back and asked if we could help for 5 minutes. We were kind of confused at first cause usually they don't ask for help, but we ended up staying for a half an hour, putting plates and silverware away cause it was just so much fun! And then once we were about to leave, 8 Elders came in and took our place to finish the work. Seriously, service is SO MUCH FUN!

BTW I heard that the USU football team crushed BYU last weekend! Seriously the best news ever haha! ;) GO AGGIES!!!

I love you all! Remember that Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ love you SO MUCH!

Hermana Barlow 

Pictures!

1&2 - Mexico City Temple!

3 - Me y mi compañera

4 - the hermanas :)

5 - our district

6 - Hermana Page! (We grew up in the same ward since elementary school, and she just barely left to Chicago on Monday!) 

7 - Huge spider we found right outside of our classroom!