ARE Y'ALL MORMONS?

Hey everyone! I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We ate with the Steven's  (counselor in the bishopric) which was so much fun! Earlier that day our zone went to the local nursing home to visit with the residents which was probably my favorite thing that happened this week :) They even had quite a few Spanish-speaking residents so I got to practice some of my spanish! 

We had a new missionary follow up meeting near Austin on Wednesday, so I got to see my CCM buddies including Hermana Call!! Seriously so much fun :) and afterwards we stopped at Buc-ees, which is a HUGE gas station! They really do everything bigger in Texas haha :) 

We did a lot of contacting this last week since most of our members and investigators were out of town for the holiday. And we found a few more potentials! One night when we were walking back to our car after contacting a neighborhood, this guy yells to us from across the street "Are y'all Mormons?" So we go over and are talking to him for a little bit, and turns out he's been a member all his life! We found out he is a less-active since he asked where church was & what time, but he told us he is thinking of coming back to church! So yeah that was a cool little miracle that day :) 

We also had a lesson with Tiffany, who is a recent convert! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and we got into the topic of temple & family history work when talking about the spirit world. Tiffany has already done baptisms in the temple before but hasn't gone in a while, so Sister Nalder and I both shared our experiences of doing baptisms for the dead for our family names. She was so touched and shared with us how she had a dream recently of her great grandma that had passed away. The spirit was so strong, holy cow! I just seriously can't get enough of talking about the temple, and to see it touch the lives of those that haven't grown up with the knowledge of eternal families is so amazing. 

I love y'all so so much! With the Christmas season coming up, I invite y'all to go watch the Light the World video on mormon.org! It is so so good and I challenge y'all to look for ways to serve others this Christmas season. I know that true happiness can be felt as we serve those around us, as we serve God's children the way Christ would. He loves us all and I hope y'all have an amazing week! 

 

The Zone!

 Thanksgiving with our roomies Sister Dittman and Sister Dickson

Sister Seymour and I were totally matching
yesterday and we didn't even plan it :)

Bowling last p-day for Hermana Nalder's birthday!! 

GOD LOVES YOU!

Exchanges with Sister Seymour!

Hello y'all! The weeks seriously go by SO FAST! I feel like it was just yesterday I was emailing again haha :) 

Teaching in San Antonio has kinda died down a little bit. Since we're working with single adults, lots of them are leaving this week for Thanksgiving, and several of our investigators are starting to drop our appointments and not respond to our texts. So yeah super frustrating, but we're planning on doing a lot of contacting this week and hopefully finding some new investigators! 

We taught Emma on Wednesday night about the blessings of the temple! She is still deciding on when to get baptized because she still has some concerns with the Word of Wisdom, but she really wants to enter the temple one day with her fiance and desires to have an eternal family. Elizabeth (recent convert) was with us in the lesson, and when Emma shared her concerns about the Word of Wisdom, Elizabeth was so supportive and shared her experience with dealing with the Word of Wisdom in order to be baptized. It was so perfect! Elizabeth is really good friends with Emma, so it was awesome to have Elizabeth be that support system for Emma, and we're hoping that Emma will warm up to the decision to be baptized really soon! 

We also had a lesson with Elizabeth this week and are starting to teach her all the lessons again. Elizabeth is seriously so golden! She has been a member for 5 months and she is already dead set on receiving her endowments as soon as she can! We taught her about the Restoration, and towards the end of the lesson when we talked about the Book of Mormon we all went around and shared our testimonies about the Book of Mormon. Elizabeth gave a beautiful testimony of how through the Book of Mormon she knows that Heavenly Father loves her and has a plan for her. She was in tears and it about brought me to tears as well! It is so amazing to see the people that God has prepared to receive the gospel and how the gospel truly can change someone's life. 

Had to get some shaved ice in November!

I want to add to Elizabeth's testimony, that I know Heavenly Father loves every single one of you SO MUCH! He has a perfect plan for each of you. He knows and understands all of your heartaches and your frustrations. He rejoices when He sees that we are happy. He is our literal Father, and we are His children. All He wants for us in this life is to feel joy and happiness, and I know that true happiness is felt as we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. I love y'all with all my heart! But most importantly, please know how much our Savior and Heavenly Father love you!!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Barlow

THERE IS SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL TODAY!

I am finally in Texas!!! Wow, words can't even describe how excited I am to finally be here! The humidity is definitely a thing, but it's not as bad as I thought. What else, I met a dog named Han Solo, and I've already seen a dead armadillo on the side of the freeway, so there's that haha! It was definitely a transition coming back to the States. It's weird seeing walmarts and having everyone drive normal on the roads haha :) but the food is AMAZING! Texan's definitely know how to do their barbecue :)   

So unfortunately my first area isn't Spanish speaking, but I'm so excited cause I'm assigned to a YSA ward! My area is on the edge of San Antonio, 10 minutes away from the UTSA campus. I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE! It is seriously so cool working with and teaching people who are around my same age. It's awesome :) My companion is Hermana Nalder and she is the cutest! She's been out for 14 months so she definitely knows what she is doing, but I love her cause she is so patient with me. And we're just having the greatest time working with the young single adults!   
2 big miracles this week! On Friday, we taught Amber, it was her 2nd lesson and we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. Hermana Nalder had told me that during their first lesson she didn't respond a lot, but she was super interested during our lesson! She especially loved hearing about the Atonement, and she basically told us that she is thinking of converting! Yay! 

So our other miracle... we got a referral of a guy named Sam from one of the senior Elders who works at the institute. Sam had a strong impression to walk into the Institute last Wednesday and said he was really interested in learning more about our church. He barely knows anything about Christianity, so we sat down with him yesterday and discussed with him our belief in God and introduced him to the Book of Mormon. We are so excited to see how things go with him! 

I love y'all so so much! Being a part of the Lord's work is the best thing in the world, and I'm so blessed to be surrounded by the best people here in San Antonio :) 

Hermana Barlow 

One of the districts in my CCM zone.
These are the best Elders ever!

Sister Nalder & Sister Barlow

President and Hermana Bennett.
One of the greatest couples I have ever met :) 

Sister Barlow Arrived In San Antonio!

President and Sister Polley

San Antonio Temple