NEW WARD MISSION LEADER!

Funny story:  Sister Sunderledge's past
4 companions went straight to
Sister Monroe (including me).  So I
am with 2 of her other companions
Sister Warr & Sister Haddock

Hahaha I am losing creativity on what to title my emails :) sorry. But it really is exciting though because we didn't have a ward mission leader all last transfer! Brother Marshall was just sustained in church yesterday, and it took so long for him to be called cause they pulled him out of the stake high council. And before that calling, he was ward mission leader again. So we are super excited to be working with him! We met with him & his wife yesterday along with some ward missionaries, and wow Brother Marshall is ON FIRE! He is so pumped to magnify the work in this ward. 

Hermana Monroe

It's been so fun to be with Sister Monroe :) We've been catching up on our areas, and it's been fun to be with someone who was with me from the VERY beginning of the mission. We've mostly been visiting as much members as we can cause I still don't know everyone in the ward, so it's been fun to learn about the members together. 

Stopped for pizza before dropping Sister Sunny off-:)

Dolores is getting close to going to the temple! We had some family history consultants come with us during the week to help her find names, and she found her first one on Saturday! We are just praying that she will get to go soon, Satan is a punk and keeps putting things in her path, but she really wants to go and she's hoping to go next week! 

View of the Lake!

It really has been a humbling experience to be serving as a missionary. That is something that I have been trying to focus on recently, how this is Heavenly Father's work and not my own. I absolutely love the members here, and it has touched me to see a part of their lives & to follow the Spirit of how we can help them. Last night we had dinner with one of the moms in the ward, and we only had dinner with her cause her husband & kids were all out doing different things. They've had a lot of exciting things happen recently with their kids milestones, but it was so tender to spend some time with only the mom. Among all of the exciting things happening in her life with her family, we were able to learn a little bit more about the struggles she is dealing with right now as well. We testified to this sister of how much Heavenly Father loves her, how He is mindful of her & her struggles amidst the good things that are on the surface. 

After filming a music video with the Encino Park
sisters & the Young Women 

It has opened my eyes to see that every one has their own struggles, their own temptations & fears they are trying to overcome. But we ALL equally deserve to feel of Christ's love in our lives, to partake of His redeeming power through His infinite Atonement. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all. He loves us. The fact that He lives is a huge testament of His love for all mankind. 

Got the gas card stuck -- haha!

I love y'all! Thanks for your love & prayers! I continue to love it here in Texas! :):):) 

Lone Peak Reunion

TRANSFERS!

Hello everyone! 

This is going to be sort of a quick email since this is transfer week and I am dropping off Sister Sunderlage off at the mission home today! I will be staying in the Canyon Lake area and my new companion is Hermana Monroe! She was in my CCM district so I am excited to be with her again, and to be in this wonderful area another transfer! 

So news on Tyler: His baptism is going to be pushed back a few months. From talking with the bishop we want to make sure their family will be able to consistently come to church, but their family is amazing and they are ready to make the necessary steps so Tyler can get baptized. 

We went to dinner with Clifton this week, we love him so much :) He has had missionaries volunteering at his thrift store for a few years but he has never taken any of them out to dinner, so we are pretty special ;) haha. 

Zone Sisters!

We had a pass off lesson with the New Braunfels elders on Saturday. We have been working with them a lot cause they border our area but they are in another zone. Lexie's mom lives in their area with Lexie's kids, and Lexie's mom is READY for the gospel. So we met with them at McDonalds and had a great visit with them, and she agreed to meet with the Elders. And Lexie's kids are SO CUTE! Emily would come up and sit next to me every few minutes and flip through the Book of Mormon, pointing at the pictures of Jesus :) 

Then on Sunday night we met with Tom and Lexie to give them a polaroid picture that Sister Sunderlage took of the kids to keep them focused on their purpose in rehab. I love Tom and Lexie. Deep down inside we know that they want to change and they are good people. When Tom was saying his goodbye's to Sister Sunderlage he kept saying to both of us that he has been so grateful for us that we continue to come by and see them, and that he is so amazed that we even come on their property haha (cause most people wouldn't based on how it looks and the environment). He kept telling Sister Sunderlage "don't forget about us!" and then he kept pointing at me and asking if I will be coming by this week with the new sister.  Please keep them in your prayers, they are scheduled to go into rehab on the 30th, and if they stay this time they have a chance to get their kids back!

I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Clifton!

Mike--who works at the Thrift Store

Cute Princess Emmie with the Book of Mormon

Emmie!

Add caption

Aiden & Emmie

The District

The Zone

DOLORES GOT BAPTIZED!

Hello everyone! Another great week in the Canyon Lake area, I wish I could share all the great things that happened! 

Last Monday night we joined the Burden and Holman families for FHE. They are so cute, they have kids around the same age and they are such good friends so every week they have FHE together at each other's houses. They came up to us at church a few weeks ago and offered for us to invite less active families or potentials over to join them. So we invited Millie and her 2 kids to come (a family we're teaching that lives in our apartment complex). Sadly they didn't show up and haven't been responding to us :( but we still had a wonderful FHE with the member families about the Plan of Salvation, it was so neat to hear their testimonies about what the Plan of Salvation means to them. 

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Mecham in her area in San Marcos. In the evening we had a lesson with one of their new people they are teaching. It was a super humbling experience, wow. The ward mission leader came with us to the lesson, and the lady we taught has been going through the hardest trials right now. Both of her parents passed away recently for different reasons, and she has been searching for a job so she barely had anything in her apartment. She kept telling us how she has felt so lost and is looking for peace. We didn't have a lot of time to teach but it was powerful to share with her a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and testify of how it can help her. 

Sister Tanner also came to my area later on in the week for exchanges. We had a great lesson with a lady named Michelle. She was taught by missionaries in the past but felt too much pressure about baptism. Her husband is also a member but his records aren't in our ward cause he hasn't come to church for a long time. He still loves the church though and was telling us lots of stories from when he served his mission. We reviewed the Restoration with her, and towards the end of the lesson we all shared our testimonies about the Book of Mormon. Brother Gonzalez (her husband) shared a powerful testimony, and Michelle afterwards was like "I just have to say something. I am so amazed at how perfect his English is. That is the best English I have heard from him ever, and I know that it is because he is passionate about this, and it is because the Spirit is here." It was so cool! And she agreed to let us come back another time! 

Update on Carol: We're still teaching her haha. We had a really interesting lesson this past Friday (well all of her lessons are interesting cause she is pretty intellectual). But for the past few weeks we have kept emphasizing the importance of faith and testimony. It has been interesting to see her concerns and learn about some of the things that are holding her back from progressing. I love teaching Carol and it has been a wonderful opportunity for us to help her grow spiritually. From this though I have had my testimony strengthened of how important it is to have faith. The world tells us that we need to have all the facts & information, to have physical proof of things we believe in. But what is most powerful, what people can't argue with, is the spiritual experiences we have through the Spirit. Although I haven't seen Christ yet and I didn't see Joseph Smith translate the Book of Mormon, I know that it is real scripture because I have felt the Spirit testify to me that it is indeed true. The scripture I always think of is Moroni 7:13 & 16. "that which inviteth and enticeth to do good...is inspired of God."

Ok last but not least, DOLORES'S BAPTISM! Wow it was such a wonderful weekend. So Dolores had a joint baptism with her brother-in-law Miguel who is part of a different ward. So we planned the baptism with the New Braunfels elders and it was a great turnout! Guess who came? President and Sister Polley! We weren't expecting them to come, but President Polley interviewed both Dolores and Miguel, and President Polley shared a wonderful testimony during the service. Dolores was able to be baptized by her nephew Joseph, and then he baptized his father Miguel. Aah it gave us chills! And Dolores & Miguel shared powerful testimonies about starting a new life and how the world needs to hear the truth :) 

I love being a missionary.

 

 

#oneWORDtheWORD

Emily Barlow

22 hrs · 

Love #oneWORDtheWORD
Amor #unaPALABRAlaPALABRA
❤❤❤

Hey y'all! How is it already August?! So exciting that everyone at home is starting school soon haha ;) meanwhile it just keeps getting hotter and hotter here in Texas woohoo haha. 

We had a few lessons with Tom and Lexie this week...sort of. They have lots of Word of Wisdom things going on so our lessons are always very interesting with them. They are the sweetest people though! Sadly things just aren't great for them right now so we won't be able to teach them but we are going to try and stay in contact with them so that eventually when things are better they will be more prepared to receive the gospel! 

Triple Exchange with our Lovely Sisters!

Carol also has been calling us this week and saying that she wants a break from us. Sad day! Apparently this has happened several times in the past so nothing new, but it's hard cause she was progressing so well this time. 

But good things as well! Dolores is getting baptized this Saturday!! And she got to meet Elder & Sister Baughman who are the temple missionaries, so we're all going to go to the temple with her next week! She is SO EXCITED to go and do baptisms :) And Tyler & his family came to church yesterday! He is 9 years old and is getting baptized on the 18th, but it was amazing cause we had a ministering visit with their family a few days ago and they said they want to come back to church. Yay!

Zone Conference was this past week, and this time it was split up 4 days so we had smaller groups. One of the things that we did was that we each had to come prepared to share a 1 minute statement of truth/testimony to share with people that we come in contact with. It was so powerful to hear other missionaries testimonies about living prophets, eternal families, and the Book of Mormon. 

This past weekend was also the #oneWORDtheWORD social media event. It's where you post a selfie of yourself with the Book of Mormon and share your testimony of the Book of Mormon in one word. It is an AMAZING opportunity to share your testimony with your friends of what the Book of Mormon means to you, and I invite y'all to still do it! The Book of Mormon truly is life changing and everyone deserves to hear your testimonies! 

Con Amor!

Always fun to see friends at Zone Conference!

Mi compañera 

Brother Rogge, Tom and Lexie

         Stopping for snacks before exchanging back

Puppies!

Lexie and her cute puppies