I WENT TO THE DENTIST

The District!

This week was good. Mario & Mitch came to church again so that's good! We also have had some more opportunities to use our Spanish! Victor is another person we are teaching, we just haven't met him for a few weeks cause he's been in Mexico. He's almost in Young Men's and we usually teach him in English, but his grandpa that he's living with speaks mostly Spanish and is a member. It's kind of interesting, his grandpa is pretty restrictive on the things Victor needs to do before he is baptized (we're kind of confused about it) so Victor has completed the discussions for a while now, we're just trying to finish reading the children's Book of Mormon with him. But we love him & his grandpa, they are so sweet! 

Also we eat with Hermana Aguilar often, her son is serving a mission in Brazil, and we just love her SO MUCH! She fed us shrimp spaghetti for dinner, and I asked her how you say shrimp in Spanish. So she tells us it's "Camaron" and then a few minutes later Sister Warr starts to sing "Camarones, camarones" while dancing in her chair. Like I totally thought she was just making up a little song or something, but Hermana Aguilar was laughing so hard cause turns out there's an actual song about shrimp that sounds just like the way Sister Warr was singing it. Who would have thought haha :))) We love Hermana Aguilar, she's the cutest! 

At the Dentist

Yes so I got my teeth cleaned this last week! The young men's president is a dentist and he's been trying to share the gospel with one of his hygienists! He gives missionaries a free teeth cleaning so that we can meet his hygienist and talk to her. So it was really good, we got to talk with her more about the church and I learned that a cavity is starting to build, so I gotta start flossing more ;) 

Ok last week I forgot to include in my email a really neat story we heard from President Polley! Every once in a while President Polley will tell us stories from when he was in the FBI, and at zone conference he told us of an experience of when he was working here in San Antonio. He had a case he was working on of trying to find a missing girl. She didn't return from school one day, but the family found her backpack on the trail coming up to their home. President Polley was with the parents, and they had a whole bunch of radio's set up at the family's home and everything. It took over a day until finally President Polley received a call from another agent that an older couple found the girl. President Polley told the parents and they left to go to the office where she was taken to, so she could answer some questions. When President Polley dropped the parents off, he looked through the doors to see the parents embrace their daughter, filled with lots of tears, joy, and relief. President Polley then went on to say that in that moment, he caught a glimpse of what he felt it will be like when we return to Heavenly Father after this life. GOOSEBUMPS right there. I know that to be true, I know that Heavenly Father loves us all so much. We are His children. All He wants is for us to find joy, and to return to Him safely in His kingdom. 

Press Forward With A Steadfastness In Christ

Emily Barlow

2 hrs · 

Throughout my mission I have strived to live by these words, from my favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon. I know that lasting strength, peace, & happiness is found through following our Savior Jesus Christ! I know that Christ still lives, and that He loves & cares about every single one of us. I have found so much comfort in my life from reading the Book of Mormon, which is a book of scripture. It is another witness of Jesus Christ and I know that it has helped me so much in my life! If you'd like to find out more of what I believe, check out lds.org or message me as well if you have any questions!

When your mission president does squats in a suit...

Panoramic picture of our whole mission with Elder Teixeira and Elder & Sister Ochoa! 

So to start off the week, we had zone conference and this time we got to wear service clothes! We met at the San Antonio Food Bank and all of us got to help make boxes for people in the community. It was so much fun! The first part of zone conference we still had some trainings, and one of the church members who is a counselor for the missionaries came and talked to us about how to overcome negative thoughts. He talked about different things we can do to help us face negative thoughts, including small exercises. So after his training, President Polley got up for his training and said "Let's do some squats!" It was one of the most hilarious things of my life, and to hear him also say "Do any of you know how to play Simon Says?" and we had to hold our squats with him. Oh it was killer, but it was so funny hahaha :) 

Things have been going good this past week. We had another lesson with Mitch which went well! We are taking things slow with him though, and he asked if we could wait a week for another lesson so that he can take things in. But he is doing so awesome though, and it has been so neat for his daughter to be able to Skype in to the lessons from her mission. 

We went up to Junction again and the guy that told us he is thinking of baptism... well we called the number he gave us and it doesn't work haha. We talked to some other sisters at zone conference who used to serve in this area, and they said that he's said that to each set of missionaries but that they could never meet with him haha :) It's all good though, we'll keep trying! We did meet with another non-member granddaughter of the family, and guess what she said? She wants to be a missionary!  She is seriously the cutest, she goes to university that's in Kerrville and she wants to move closer to the school, so we are going to meet with her on campus this week to talk with her more about what it's like to be a missionary :) 

On Saturday we were able to meet with one of our referrals! We had been texting Ramiro to see when would be a good time to meet, and he said we could come by on the weekend. So when we knocked on the door, he didn't answer. Which we didn't want to leave cause we were just talking with him on the phone! So right then the neighbors dog cage blew over from the wind. We knocked on her door and offered to help, and once we got it back up, Ramiro came out! Miracles:)  And we had such a good visit with him, his mom is a less active lady living in another area in our mission, and when the missionaries there contacted her she referred her son. So the missionaries sent his name to us and that's how we met him! He talked about how he briefly remembers going to church when he was young, but he was never baptized. And he has the desire to come to church with his family and give back to God. Such a good guy :) We're excited to meet with him again this week! 

Just want to share a quote from one of the talks I read this week by Elder Andersen back in April 2011 called "Preparing the World for the Second Coming":

"The blessing of bringing others into the gospel far outweighs anything you will ever sacrifice." I am SO SO grateful for this opportunity to share the gospel with others. It truly is such a gift to be able to enjoy the blessings that come from Christ's restored church and to teach others about the blessings they can enjoy as well. God lives, and He loves us so much! 

Junction = The Promised Land

Sister Warr's Birthday!

Hello everyone!!! So excited to write y'all this week, a lot of great things happened :) 

We had dinner with one of our member couples, and they invited their non member neighbors to join us for dinner (they always invite this couple over when they feed the missionaries). For our dinner message, we were able to share a scripture in the Book of Mormon that the neighbors really liked, and as we were leaving the wife told us that we could come by to their home next time we're in the area! 

We had a good lesson with Mario this past week! He is still looking forward to his baptism and feeling that peace from being cleansed from sin. We still need to check with him and see what day he wants to be baptized, this past weekend was crazy cause Sharon's baby (Sharon is one of the Neal's daughters) was in the hospital. We called the Elders that were near the hospital and they were able to go give the baby a blessing! So that was pretty neat for Mario to be able to witness a priesthood blessing :) 

Sister Reed & Sister Cruz took us out for Sister Warr's birthday!! 

Ok also, Thursday was just the craziest day cause we saw SO MANY MIRACLES! We went up to Junction with some members in our ward who have ministering assignments to some of the members up there. Junction is an hour away from Kerrville so we aren't able to go up there that often with our mileage allotment. But here's what happened: 

- contacted a referral and set up a return appointment! The grandson who sent the referral is serving a mission right now in Chile, and his grandma was super nice! 

- met a potential at the library while we were meeting with a returning member. He told us to come back and visit him next time we're in the area. 

- ate lunch at a restaurant that one of the member families owns. We were able to meet a lot of the family, including a grandson who has been taught in the past. But guess what he told us?? He said he wants to move closer to Kerrville so that he can come to our church and be baptized! 

- we had our first lesson with Mitch, who's in a part member family. His daughter reached out to us who is serving a mission and invited her dad to take the discussions. And she was able to skype in to the lesson! 

Like how cool is God's work?! It's just so good, I love it. Also we are spending part of our p-day today to go watch a soccer game! One of the bishop's daughters plays soccer and she is on fire with sharing the gospel! So we're going to head down to San Antonio today to talk to her team mates and the families as well :)))

One of Elder Teixeira's invitations to us was to read President Nelson's talk "Joy and Spiritual Survival". I invite y'all to read that this week cause it is SO GOOD. I just want to share one of my favorite parts that stuck out to me: 

"Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God’s power into our lives. As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!

And what was the joy that was set before Him? Surely it included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and families."

I had never thought of it that way, how Christ focused on joy at all times, especially in the time leading up to His Atonement. I know that He finds joy as we apply His Gospel in our lives -- as we exercise our faith & trust in Him, truly repent, and strive to keep His commandments. I know that His joy is seeing us become happy through being cleansed and perfected through Him, leading us to prepare to return to His presence with our loving Heavenly Father. I know that true, lasting joy is found in our Savior, Jesus Christ. "Jesus Christ is Joy!" 

Late Christmas day pic with the zone :) 

LETS RISE UP

These dogs kept following us as we were contacting 

Hola todos!!! 

Y'all might be wondering why this email is coming a day late. Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to gather together as missionaries and hear from some leaders of the church! Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was scheduled to come and be one of the speakers, but he wasn't able to make it :( which is sad, but from hearing what their schedules are like I have gained a greater appreciation for the time and effort that the leaders of our church put into their callings to lead & serve the members of this church. 

BUT! We were so blessed to hear from Elder Teixeira of the Presidency of the Seventy &  Elder Ochoa (who also spoke to us in November when the Prophet came!). We gathered together as a WHOLE MISSION to hear them speak, which we have never gathered together as a whole mission for a meeting, so it was pretty special & powerful to all be gathered together. Elder Teixeira spoke for most of the time, and it basically was just like a coach pumping up his football players for the big game hahah :))) We have seen so many miracles in our mission as we have focused on becoming consecrated missionaries and seeking to find the prepared who are ready for the covenant of baptism. He gave us such a big boost to work even harder to reach our goals, by focusing on talking with EVERYONE we meet and finding joy in every part of the work. He invited us to "Rise Up" in the TSAM, to avoid becoming stagnant in our missionary work, and he even gave an additional invitation to the Spanish speaking missionaries to seek out the Spanish people, since they are a remnant of the Lamanite nation. So yeah, it all was something I needed to hear to encourage me to keep working hard! 

Exchanges with Sister Fano!

Missionary work is full of miracles, so here are some from this week :)

Last Monday night we were visiting with the Neal family on New Years Eve since it was Briley's 8th birthday and her dad just got baptized recently! So in the next few weeks he will get to baptize her :) As we were leaving, Brother Neal tells us "Hey Mario wants to get baptized!" (Background: Mario is dating one of the other Neal daughters, and he sat in on our most recent new member lesson with Brother Neal and their family). So we look at Mario and we're like "Really??" He says "Yeah I'm serious, I've been thinking about getting baptized!" Like where did this come from?! 

We also had another member email us this morning whose on a mission saying that she thinks her dad is ready to take the discussions! He's come to church the past few weeks with his wife whose a member. And we also ran into another part member family the other night. The wife has taken some of the discussions on and off, but the sisters haven't really had contact for a while with them since the family was busy with holidays and with us transferring in as well as new sisters. We talked to the husband and he said that his kids were just talking about how they were hoping they were going to see the missionaries soon! The wife wasn't there when we first went by, but the husband told us to come back tonight to see the whole family! 

Found Santa At Mamacitas! 

Another fun thing from the week, we went on exchanges! I got to go with Sister Fano to her area, which is actually the family ward of the main part of the YSA area that I first served in! It was so crazy to be back at some of the apartment complex's I would contact at all the time when I was in training :) We also got to help out at a wedding of 2 recent converts who got married to each other! They invited all the missionaries in the zone to help out to talk to all of their non member friends, so that was fun! 

As I was sitting in the passing of the sacrament on Sunday, I was reading the verses Doctrine and Covenants 59:8-10

8 Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High

Verse 9 really stuck out to me this time as I was pondering the meaning of taking the sacrament. To keep ourselves "more fully unspotted from the world", we take the sacrament each week! It is a reminder of our baptismal covenant, and helps us to focus on the Savior and His example throughout the next week. I'm so grateful for the sabbath day, for the time that we have to partake of the sacrament and focus our thoughts on Jesus Christ & His atoning sacrifice for us. 

Car selfie of Sister Warr:))) 

Another week in K-Ville :)))

Hey y'all!! 

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas! We were able to be a part of a lot of service opportunities for Christmas Eve & Christmas. On Christmas Eve we spent part of our p-day and helped out at the Ronald McDonald house with cleaning & preparing dinner for the residents. I was able to go to the Ronald McDonald house last year with my zone, so it was fun to come back and help out with other missionaries and with the Polleys! And on Christmas day our zone went to a rest home to sing carols to the residents and play bingo with them! Seriously so much fun :))

We're still working on finding more people to teach, but miracles are happening! We received 2 referrals this past week on our Area Book, and Bishop has really been wanting us to focus on talking about family mission plans with every family that we eat dinner with or take with us on visits. It has been so cool to hear about people's miracles with sharing the gospel with their friends! They are so excited about it, and we are too! 

Yesterday in 3rd hour of church we met with the majority of the ward (besides the Primary kids) and talked about spiritual self reliance, and getting prepared for the new year with the 2 hour church. A quote that was shared was "You will receive more revelation if you show Heavenly Father it means something to you." I just loved that so much! I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, who speaks to us through the Spirit of revelation that we might know how to return to live with Him. I know that He is always anxious to bless us, but that in order to receive more guidance & direction from Him we have to show Him our love for Him by keeping His commandments. 

I love y'all lots! Have a happy new year! :)