A goat climbed onto my shoulder

S.O.S.

THEY ARE WHITE WASHING OUR AREA.

Which I'm weirdly at peace about. So that's good.

It's sad to leave an area when you are finally teaching people you love. Oh well.

This week we volunteered at a community function at a nearby park. Mostly we picked up trash. And horse poop. And I learned how to dismantle canopies. And became a horse whisperer. Somehow I ended up wearing a snake and riding with a goat on a golf cart. It was super rad.

Our investigator from Iraq participated in a youth cultural night and rocked it. And I found out that her ten-year-old boy has a talent for roasting people in a Gordon Ramsey voice. It's simultaneously hilarious and hurtful. 

I also witnessed the cutest talent show act in which a small 8-year-old boy sang Love by Nat King Cole. The whole audience melted. It was adorable.

On Sunday I had the worst ward council experience of my life. My companion and I split up so that she could go to sacrament meeting in our other ward and I went to our other ward's council. We had an idea for finding people to teach and working with the members that we wanted to share with all of them. I brought it up, and due to some misunderstandings, I was greeted with what felt like a whole lot of patronization. Not from everybody, but with the main speakers.

I can see it from their perspective, and I see it from my perspective. Mostly I just wanted to vomit after we were done. Man, some adults are really scary. But hey, missions are supposed to be humbling right? I learned a whole lot in the 20 minutes we discussed our idea.

For a spiritual thought, I share something that I heard in a talk recently given in one of our sacrament meetings. Concerning Lehi's vision of the tree of life, this man pointed out that not only is Jesus Christ the love of God, the fruit of the tree, He is also the rod we hold fast to, and the path we walk. He used scripture references that I cannot recall at this time, but the point is that Jesus is with us always.

One of my favorite scriptures is the very end Matthew 28:20.

"...and, lo, I am with you, alway, even unto the end of the world."

He is with us always, every step of the way. He is with us as we walk the path, learn to hold fast to the iron rod, and as we partake of the fruit.

He is with us this day and the next. He is with us until the end of the world, until the end of our missions and our callings, until the end of our mortal lives, and into the eternities.

Sometimes that's the only thing that keeps me going. But hey, what divine motivation it is.

Love,

Sister Barlow