Hermana Emily Barlow: UN AÑO!

ONE YEAR

Hello everyone! I'm writing y'all a little bit late cause we changed our P-day! Since Sister Monroe & I hit our year mark today, we decided to celebrate by going to the temple! Ahh it was so good, we got to go with some of the Relief Society sisters in our ward. And it just renewed my testimony that temples truly are the House of the Lord.

While Sister Sedgwick was here on exchanges, we had lamb for dinner! It was actually pretty good haha :) and then later on in the week when Sister Mecham came here, I ran over a squirrel. Saddest day of my life :(

Stake Conference was this past weekend, and it was so good! The theme was ministering, and President Polley & Sister Polley came to speak! Some of my favorite quotes from stake conference:

Sister Sedgwick

President Polley: "As soon as you open your mouth, you're successful."
President Packard (counselor in stake pres): "How do you keep the missionary spirit after the mission? You continue to pray for God to put someone in your path."
I definitely know that this new focus on ministering is inspired & is what helps us to become more like Jesus Christ!

Also some exciting news! Michelle & Elmer came to stake conference, and then Michelle just texted us last night and asked us when she can be baptized! Like WHAT? We are so pumped for her, one step closer to being sealed to Elmer! :)

Temple!

We also had zone conference this past week, and it was good as always! It was different this time because we focused a lot about the eternal perspective of our missions, how it helps us prepare for the rest of our lives. And we also had a deep study together about repentance, which was something I think all of us missionaries needed. Satan definitely works really hard on Heavenly Father's missionaries, but it was so comforting to have discussions about how we can know if we are forgiven, and to also know the purpose of why we remember our mistakes.

Also, President Polley extended an invitation to us that I am SO EXCITED about! Our mission and the church members in our mission boundaries have the wonderful opportunity to hear from President Nelson, Elder Bednar, and another general authority in November. THE PROPHET IS COMING TO SAN ANTONIO! And to prepare for when he comes, President Polley invited us to read the Book of Mormon all the way through in 65 days, before President Nelson comes. It also took the Prophet Joseph Smith 65 days to translate the Book of Mormon. So President asked us to not do this challenge during personal study, but to sacrifice our free time in the morning & evening to complete this invitation. For me I've decided to focus my study this time on underlining each time Christ's name is mentioned. I have already learned so much these past few days and I can't wait to see how much my testimony grows about our Savior & living prophets by the time President Nelson comes! :)

I have learned so much this past year of being a missionary. I can't wait for the next 6 months, and I am so grateful that I have this time to be a missionary for this church! I know that this is Christ's church restored on the earth. I know that the temples on this earth are His home, He dwells there and it is where He wants us to be. I absolutely love it here in Texas! Wish y'all could be here to see how amazing it is here ;)